On Evaluations, Know What You Are Signing

Question: My employer insists that employees sign their evaluations. I feel that by signing the form I am acknowledging any critical remarks.

Is an employee obligated to sign this document? If so, would it be a good idea to write a small disclaimer if you don’t agree?

--A.V., El Monte

Answer: If you simply are acknowledging that you have received your evaluation by signing the document, go ahead and sign it. By refusing to sign, employees may be considered insubordinate, jeopardizing their job security.

However, if it is unclear what you are acknowledging when you sign a document, don’t sign it until you have clarified what you are signing.

If the document is something illegal, such as a noncompetitive agreement, courts have protected employees who were fired because they refused to sign such documents.

If you are not sure of the effects of signing, you could write above your signature “acknowledging receipt only.”

Keep in mind that there are some advantages to signing documents. Not only does it show cooperation, but it gives you a right to a copy of the document at any time in the future.

The law says you have a right to a copy of anything you have signed, but not necessarily copies of documents that you did not sign.

--Don D. Sessions

Employee rights attorney

Mission Viejo

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Paycheck Must Arrive Within Set Time Period

Q: Our company decided to mail our paychecks to our houses instead of delivering them at work.

With Friday as the scheduled payday, many of us do not get our pay stubs until Monday or Tuesday the following week. For those of us with direct deposit, it is a major nuisance. For the people who do not have direct deposit, it must be a nightmare.

Are there any rules requiring a company to provide its employees with their pay information in a timely manner?

--A.P., Hawthorne

A: Although no California rules directly address the legality of mailing paychecks and direct-deposit confirmation to employees, some general requirements might apply to the situation you describe.

Every employer, for example, must post a notice specifying its regular paydays and the time and place of payment. And employees who are paid weekly, biweekly or semimonthly must be paid within seven calendar days of the close of each payroll period.

Employees who receive paychecks through the mail would argue that your employer is not complying with the state’s wage-payment requirements if they are not receiving their checks on the day and in the manner described in the notice that your employer is required to post.

Your employer could avoid this problem, however, by posting a new notice describing its procedures of paying by mail.

If employees do not receive their paychecks within seven days after the appropriate payroll period, they would have a stronger argument that their employer violated state requirements for paying wages.

For employees like you who have direct deposit, the argument that your employer’s mailing procedure violates the requirements would be less convincing. You presumably still are receiving your wages in a timely manner.

However, you might assert that your employer’s wage payments are not complete until you receive both the money you have earned and the corresponding pay stub information.

In either case, your employer should carefully consider its payment-by-mail practices because the company may be subjecting itself to substantial civil penalties if the state Division of Labor Standards Enforcement concludes that these procedures do not meet all of California’s wage payment rules.

--Stacy D. Shartin

Employment law attorney

Seyfarth Shaw

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Vision Disclosure May Not Be Necessary

Q: I am blind in one eye, but it’s not apparent and doesn’t affect my normal work. Am I required to disclose this in a job interview or during the employment process?

P.D., North Hollywood

A: Not unless your work is safety-sensitive and you are asked about vision impairment during a pre-employment physical or on some other occasion.

Certain jobs, such as pilot or truck driver, carry minimum vision standards. But if you do not work in such a job, there is no requirement that you disclose your condition.

--James J. McDonald Jr.

Attorney, Fisher & Phillips

Labor law instructor,

UC Irvine

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If you have a question about an on-the-job situation, please mail it to Shop Talk, Los Angeles Times, P.O. Box 2008, Costa Mesa, CA 92626; dictate it to (714) 966-7873, or e-mail it to shoptalk@latimes.com. Include your initials and hometown.

The Shop Talk column is designed to answer questions of general interest. It should not be construed as legal advice.

Recent Shop Talk columns are available at www.latimes.com/shoptalk.