Test Your HR Knowledge

The Company’s Equal Employment Policy protects only the statuses protected under federal law.

If an associate hired as a female named Samantha expresses a male gender and asks to be referred to as a male named Sam, the Company will honor the request, but his manager, who opposes the request for religious reasons, and who refers to Sam as “it”, refuses to call him Sam, and refuses to work with him must be accommodated for religious reasons.

Employers may discipline or terminate associates who lodge discrimination and harassment complaints that are unsubstantiated.

Managers need not worry about accommodating applicants with disabilities. Company policy and the law only require accommodating employees with disabilities.

Managers can deny a disability accommodation if it wasn’t accounted for in or exceeds their budget. Unbudgeted accommodations create undue hardship.

If an associate’s request for leave for their own serious health condition or to care for a family member with a serious health condition involves missing work intermittently, such as a day or hour here or there, managers can deny the request or require a continuous leave if the intermittent absences would disrupt business operations.

Job protection ends when an associate exhausts his/her Family and Medical Leave (FMLA).

Regardless of whether an associate has a disability, he/she is accountable for performing their job the same as other associates; however, the Company cannot take into account the fact that it had to provide an accommodation when evaluating performance or comparing associates for promotion/evaluation purposes.

Managers can deny a request for personal leave.

Whether a job is classified as exempt or non-exempt depends on whether a company wants to pay a salary for the position or pay based on an hourly basis.

Under Illinois law, managers can make hourly associates work through their meal period.

If an independent contractor is violating a policy or claims that they are being harassed or discriminated against, the manager should address the issue just as if the independent contract were an employee.

The Company limits the scope of background checks to 7 years.

Personal relationships in the workplace are absolutely prohibited.

Associates eligible for Short-Term Disability (“STD”) are supposed to take this paid time off first before calling in a leave case.

Associates taking time off to care for a family member or for new child care can be compensated under the Company’s Short-Term Disability Policy.

The Performance Improvement Plan (“PIP”) period is typically 60 days.

Managers have discretion to unilaterally extend or shorten the PIP period.

If an associate violates a policy or engages in inappropriate workplace behavior, they should be placed on a PIP.

Smokeless tobacco usage, like e-cigarettes and chewing tobacco, is not prohibited under the Company’s Smoking Policy.

Associates who are arrested or convicted of a crime do not need to report it to the Company unless it involves a felony.

Associates who come to work intoxicated should be sent home immediately.