Hello HR folks, I am almost 5 months into my 6 month maternity leave, and I just was diagnosed with liposarcoma, a weird cancer. I’m hoping for help to determine how my recent leaves will affect any needed future leaves for radiation and surgery.

I am wondering what options there are for leave and disability. For background, I had to detail all of CAs maternity leave laws to my HR as there was a lot of turnover recently, so I’m expecting to need to be well versed in this as well when I go to them.

For maternity, I started leave at 36 weeks (per CA law) and my baby was born 11 days late. My union allows for 6 months of leave after birth, unpaid except for any state-covered leave and any sick/vacation time. They may require use of vacation/sick balances and I’ve been using those balances after my state payments stopped to keep getting paid.

My question is, am I able to be on disability or FMLA when I used them so recently? And what will happen if I need to use leave?

Thanks

I am currently working (it’s only been a few months) and just found a better job. In interview they asked me multiple times if it will be my first job out of college- I lied and said yes (because I didn’t want to reveal myself as a flight risk, having only worked a few months). Now I am at the background check stage… pretty stressed. Will my current job come up on background check? Or only the companies that I list (I have old internships). US based

[IL, company revenue over $250 million+ per year, employees 100-200, privately owned]

I was recruited by a friend for a position.

I was told I would receive base pay of $18/hour + tips from the tip pool. When I received my first paycheck, it was only for $15/hour and I was listed as temporary intern.

I was told this was a temporary position while the company restructured and I would be given a permanent position. That was 1.5 years ago. Every few months I get told there'll be a position opening up. There hasn't.

I was hired as a remote employee. The company refuses to provide any internet stipend. I asked about working in-office and was told its not an option. I pay for my own software (Creative Suite, Microsoft).

When I asked about hours, I was informed that its up to 40 hours a week but there's no set hours. I am literally on call all the time for things that truly can wait...like a bad Google review or sending an event CRM. I've been woken up at 3am. I've been called while on PTO. I've worked in some capacity nearly everyday for 1.5 years.

I stick around because my boss's boss is my best friend, the health insurance is really good, and the lack of a schedule means I can work another job.

I have a master's degree from a big ten university. I'm the only person in my division with a degree in the field, I'm also the only person to have worked in this field at other companies.

My other job pays $39/hour, however, its part-time so I do not qualify for health insurance. I love that job and have no intention of leaving unless I need health insurance.

My question: how big of a deal is everything I listed? I'm worried that if I make a fuss, they'll just fire me and fire my best friend. However, I'm tired of doing far more than what I'm paid to do and tired of the 24/7 schedule. As an intern, I lead teams and the company would be forced to replace me if I quit. At minimum, I'd like the intern dropped from my title.

At my company, PERM postings used to bring in a couple hundred resumes. Now, with AI-assisted applying, a single posting can get 1,500 or more. Every one still has to be reviewed against the ad's requirements, with the reasons documented, and it's taking weeks of HR time per posting.

Is anyone else seeing this? How are you handling it: more reviewers, leaning on your immigration firm, some kind of tool? And roughly how many hours does one posting take you now?

I’m in a pseudo-HR role with a new, small company. We have a corporate office but they kicked this back down to us to develop a plan specific to our office. I just learned today of two employees being in a relationship because one disclosed to another supervisor per the policy and procedure manual. The two staff in question are in different areas within the company but one is a high level admin who sits in on important meetings where information about their new partner could be disclosed and decisions are made. They also manage personnel files and do a lot of office wide ordering and scheduling which would also include the other person. There also were recent comments from staff about preferential treatment from this admin to the employee due to this admin helping with a task not part of their job duty unbeknownst to their supervisor. We are meeting with them individually tomorrow and I have some questions to review in order to make a plan but I’d love to see other people’s protocols for this situation. Is there anything you’ve learned from navigating this that you wish you knew before? Our PPM mentions staff having to disclose the relationship but does not have anything else. I want to explore if there has been misconduct in addition to a solid plan moving forward.

19M here, so long story short I've been working as a male stripper at this club for a few months now. I have this male co-worker of mine who keeps harassing me to the point where he gropes me inappropriately and keeps pressuring me to have sex with him. I'm even afraid to be in the same room alone with him only bc he's kinda intimidating and way bigger than me. I also don't wanna lose my job, idkr what to do. Sorry any advise would be helpful, thx.

I left my job in March to pursue graduate school. I actually really liked my boss, and the company, but I'm still early in my career and wanted to try something different that I thought would be more fulfilling.

Unfortunately, grad school didn't work out. I had some issues with my supervisor, and after a few months, I decided to withdraw from the program in October.

Now I'm unemployed and looking to get back into the workforce, but I'm struggling with how to explain my situation to potential employers.

I feel like saying I left a perfectly good job to pursue grad school, only to drop out a few months later, makes me look flaky or like I don't know what I want. I also don't know how to explain why I left grad school. Saying I had issues with my PI feels like a red flag, even though there was more to the situation.

I'm debating how to approach this:

• A: Be completely honest. Explain that I left my job to pursue graduate school, realized it wasn't the right fit, and decided to return to the workforce.
• B: Leave grad school out entirely and say I left my previous job for personal or family reasons.
• C: Say my previous role was a contract position that ended, and I've been taking some time off before looking for work again.

I know B and C would mean bending the truth (or outright lying), which I'm not particularly comfortable with, but I'm worried that being honest will hurt my chances in an already terrible job market.

For context, I have a bachelor's and a master's degree already, plus around two years of professional experience. The graduate program I left would've been my second master's.

How would you handle this? Would you include the unfinished graduate program on your resume? And if you were interviewing someone in my situation, would the honest explanation raise any red flags?

I was terminated from my job in the fifth month of my probation period. It was a unionized job and I was hired as a financial analyst. I had two yoe as FA(where my performance was very good and the company was also very good but the pay was low) and then I moved to this job. At the time of offering the job letter the HR wrote in the email that "I was the best candidate by far".

The organisation was working in 90s. There were no timeline fixed for month end. You could accrue the invoices in the closed month even after 15 days. They had no EPM and their ERP was what is used for small enterprises.

First three months were okay I was learning how they do the things. They were implementing a new software for ERP and EPM. I had some experience of a different EPM which I was using in my previous company. So I told my manager what reports should be there in the EPM they are implementing. My manager then asked me to give a presentation to her on how to use the EPM and how to run the reports in the EPM and I said okay. Then near the presentation she asked me to include the other accounting manager and CFO in the presentation and I did.

After adding them in the presentation I was thinking why my manger has asked me to include them as it is a very basic presentation where I was supposed to show how to use the EPM. I gave the presentation and it was not what my manager asked me to present. According to her she asked me to present how the project managers will use the EPM and how will they get their reports. Since that day I was under the radar.

Her attitude changed altogether towards me she use to snap at me on very little things. Then one day she found an invoice which I hadn't accrued and it was in the one of the three emails' inbox.

That invoice was there from last two months and not the AP nor the PM noticed it and processed it. The practice there was that the PM will receive the invoice and then the PM will approve that invoice and send it to AP to process the invoice. But the PM of that particular project was also not aware of that invoice and never updated me on anything regarding that project.

I even mentioned that to my manager but she ignored that.

so back to that missed invoice, I told her that let me take a look at the inbox again and see if I have any other pending invoices there or not. There were few other invoices there of the same project but for different months.

So she made the excuse that you missed all these invoices in the Q2 although all these invoices were not related to Q2 except three invoices. and in the next week she terminated me.

Now on my CV I have 3 yoe in accounting field, in which 9 months are from my previous country, 2 years of my FA experience and 5 months of this job where I was terminated.

Now how do I find a new job? There is one option that I can go to the last company where I worked for two years, I have talked to my colleague from there and they would love to have me back there or should I look for a new company? and will anyone hire me with this kind of work tenures on my CV?

We have a contractor who’s been working with the same team for over a year now. They have regular, ongoing responsibilities and work with our employees every day, but they’re still classified as a contractor.

I’m not sure if this is totally fine or something HR should be looking at. At what point would you start questioning whether the arrangement is still appropriate? Is it mostly about how they work with the team, or do other factors matter more?

Any advice on how this is usually handled would be appreciated.

Hi, I’m looking for some advice about a situation at work.
I’ve worked for a UK retailer for around 4–5 years and have never had a disciplinary warning. I’ve recently been suspended on full pay while HR looks into three concerns: mobile phone use, not working as expected, and an alleged GDPR breach.
I accept that I was on my phone too much and that my work wasn’t up to standard that day. I’d had a difficult day dealing with medical appointments, but I’m not trying to use that as an excuse.
The GDPR issue happened when I was using a work computer to check stock. A facial-recognition system was already open and logged in when I accessed the computer. I clicked on it and saw a grid of faces associated with known offenders. I didn’t search for anyone, open an individual profile, take photos or share the images outside work. My floor manager was present and also looked at the screen.
I haven’t been told exactly what GDPR rule I allegedly breached, and I don’t recall receiving specific training on how to use this system. My union believes the fact it was left open on a shared work computer raises serious questions about the company’s security procedures.
I’m still employed and suspended on full pay while HR reviews the matter. I’m a union member and will be getting their support.
I’d appreciate advice on what might happen next, what a fair investigation should involve, and how important training, access permissions and my previous record could be.

I am intending to resign from my current role due to severe burnout and mental health concerns and want to do so cleanly, ending on a high note so that I can be considered eligible for rehire in case life circumstances will allow me to return in at least a year, and I do not intend to apply for a new job in the meantime. I have talked with a couple coworkers about this plan, and the idea of using FMLA and short-term disability payments in the meantime was brought up. When looking into this as a possibility, I also saw another post that mentioned the idea of extending FMLA until I am terminated due to medical unavailability and then applying for long-term disability payments. As much as I want to get paid and have access to benefits like my health insurance for as long as possible, I also am worried that these options might lead them to mark me as ineligible for rehire since leaving in those ways might not be quite as clean as just resigning upfront, especially when the employer expects me to provide a two-week notice if I were to voluntarily resign. So I want to ask those with experience in HR, if performance/standing is otherwise satisfactory, what can I do - if anything - to most cleanly use FMLA and STD prior to resigning/getting fired for medical unavailability and still be marked eligible for rehire?

Hi there, I’m a bit in disbelief. I’ve investigated this matter, but I’m not entirely certain I’m grasping it correctly. I’m the sole employee at a small shop. I’ve been falling ill and continuing to come to work because I’m concerned about the potential reduction in my paycheck. I’m currently on a W2 form and working full time. I recently searched online and found that I should have accrued sick hours? Has this happened to anyone else? I feel so naive, I'm used to working with bigger companies than I overlooked this part.

A company has been sort of head hunting me for a while. After declining to meet a few times over the past couple years I finally said yes to coffee and then interviews and now we're about to the formal offer stage. I think I check all their boxes and I think I interviewed well.

I plan on negotiating salary at a minimum unless they really wow me with a number. I assume they won't start the offer with their top dollar. But on top of that I'd like to request more vacation as they offer 3 weeks starting and move up with seniority. I currently have 22 days/yr and would like to start there.

Lastly, I currently get 3 weeks paid parental leave and I have a child due in April. They know this. I would like to ask for my PTO total to start with enough days so that I can take at least 3 weeks off with my wife and child.

Does negotiating salary, PTO total, and starting PTO seem unreasonable from a company point of view? I guess worse they can say is "no". I assume they wouldn't rescind the offer just because I asked for more.

I’m a longtime employee (10+ years) of an Amazon subsidiary. My team is being relocated from Nevada to New York, and since relocating isn’t an option for me, I’ve been given a future separation date.

Rather than severance, I’ve been offered a modest retention bonus contingent on staying through my end date, despite being expected to work several more months to support the transition.

A few things that don’t sit right with me:

-We were required to make relocation decisions without receiving formal written offers or details of relocation assistance.
-Our positions had previously been designated as based in our current location.
-I’ll be forfeiting unvested RSUs, some scheduled to vest shortly after my end date.
-Other longtime employees impacted by layoffs have reportedly received much more substantial packages.

Curious on any likelihood on negotiating severance or keeping my RSUs ? And is declining a company-mandated relocation typically considered a voluntary resignation? That is how they are classifying the seperation.

Would especially appreciate insight from current/former Amazon employees or employment attorneys.
Thanks!

I’m a cook and the day before i already left early because of issues with my period. I’ve been changing my tampon every hour for the past 3 days because of how heavy it is and they are aware. i was the only cook tonight and my manager was trying to make me stay when there is blood on my pants. She said im gonna get something outta of this (either a write up or fired). I was not able to get someone to bring me any pants due to me living 40 minutes away.

I just got hired on as a Senior Caregiver in California. This role requires a recent TB test, but the agency I got hired on with demanded I pay for it, argued when I brought up California Labor Code, lied about what they thought we were talking about (I think??) and then just told me they wouldn't move forward with me. I believe I was respectful. Please tell me if I'm missing something or is this illegal retaliation? If so, where do I go from here? It seems I can't add images so here is the verbatim transcript:

Keep in mind this is the Executive Director of HR for this agency.

HR: I have you HCA I just need for you to log in to pay the $35 or pay for it on Wednesday when you are here and I can pull up the website for you.

Me: I paid for the HCA application this morning and it says pending on the portal. And yes Wellnessmart works for me, but I believe California labor code requires all pre-employment health screenings to be covered by employers.

HR: The company pays for your drug screen and physical but not the TB test or livescan. If you want those done at Wellnessmart you still can.

HR: Thank you for paying. Correct and we do, but the pre-screening = drug test and physical. Livescans and TB tests are caregivers individual responsibilities to maintain annually for their career in this industry.

Me: I apologize for the multiple emails on this, but what I'm finding is that California Labor Code Section 222.5 prohibits employers from requiring an applicant to pay for any legally mandated medical examination required as a condition of employment, which a TB test would fall under.

HR: It's ok, I'm glad you're asking. TB tests are an industry maintained requirement.

HR: We understand you're questions, and if this isn't for you, it's ok. Let me know how you would like to proceed.

Me: I am committed and I would like to proceed, but I don't feel comfortable bypassing the labor code. Is there anything that can be done or will my job offer be withdrawn unless I pay for the test out of pocket?

HR: [me], we are not bypassing the labor code, we would never do that. As I mentioned, the TB test is a credential that all caregivers maintain. If you choose not to proceed, let me know.

HR: One part I didn't explain to you, we aren't asking you to get a new TB test, we are asking you to provide one that you already have (caregivers maintain TB tests in the home care / healthcare industry) I think you're getting the 2 confused.

Me: Thank you for clarifying what you meant. As this is my first caregiver role, I don't have a recent negative TB test to provide. I will need to get a new one at Wellnessmart, but this would need to be covered by [COMPANY NAME] per Labor Code Section 222.5.

HR: [me], we won't be moving forward, I can't explain it to you any more.

I work for a small startup in California. I report directly to the CEO, and we have one HR person (the HR manager) who also reports directly to the CEO.
The CEO has raised her voice at me twice now.
The first time, I was sitting in a chair working on a task in a private work room when she entered to talk to me about said task. Another coworker also walked in, and witnessed the interaction that followed: I answered one of the CEO’s questions about the task, she got upset with the answer, leaned over closer to me, then raised her voice and gestured near my face. I just answered neutrally about work, as I was caught off guard. I didn’t report it at the time because we were at a stressful point in a project, and I actually shared her frustrations with the issue at hand, so I wanted to give her some grace. She also had never raised her voice at me before then, so I assumed it was a one time thing.
Recently, she raised her voice at me again, this time during a team meeting in front of multiple colleagues. This was after she had already been yelling at another coworker. In the moment I answered about work once again, but I’m not comfortable being yelled at in the workplace and now that it happened twice I feel uncomfortable just ignoring it.
However, I’m also not really comfortable directly discussing it with the CEO on my own at this point, because she’s now raised her voice at me twice, and I’ve witnessed her yell at other coworkers on multiple occasions. So I’m not very confident that privately telling her I don’t want to be spoken to that way would go over well.
This is the first startup I’ve been at. I’ve worked in corporate environments since I graduated from college, and I’m fine with criticism, questions about my work, and stressed managers/executives, because I’ve dealt with all those issues. I just haven’t had a superior, especially an executive, actually yell at me before.
I’m considering emailing the HR manager basically saying that this has happened twice now and that I’m still willing and able to work with the CEO and receive feedback from her, but that I’m uncomfortable being yelled at. I’m also considering asking if HR could sit in on our regular team meetings for a while, and be present if the CEO needs to have a more contentious discussion with me. My hesitation is that the HR manager is the only HR person we have and the CEO is her boss. I also don’t have another job lined up yet, and I’m kind of worried that even if telling HR is the appropriate thing to do, it could make the situation with the CEO worse and make work worse for me day to day.
So, I’m a little at a loss of what steps to take going forward. If you were the HR manager in this situation, would you want the employee to put it in writing? Is asking for HR or a third party to be in meetings appropriate/reasonable? And how does HR handle a complaint when the person being complained about is also HR’s boss?

Interviewed for a mobility company and cleared all the onsites + virtual rounds.

Had a comp discussion with the HR after which they informed me that I failed the Background Verification Checks citing some redflags in my past roles.

My past roles have been pretty clear along with good performance reviews. Moreover I do not have any criminal records or any sort of legal records either. The company also did not ask me for any references/asked for any documents + all my socials are pretty clear too

What are my options here?

I worked for a large hospital system in a specialized technical role and was terminated at the start of the year due to violating the attendance policy. At the meeting where I was officially released, I was told I was barred for rehire through the entire system.

I am a combat veteran with a lot of problems, and decided to take the past year as a sort of forced sabbatical to focus on my health, heal from burn out, and decide what I want out of my future. I’ve had a lot of work on my mental health, and am currently recovering from spinal surgery, the two main issues that caused me to have so many call outs from work that lead to the termination.

I’ve worked all across the country in different hospitals and with a ton of teams, but none could compare to the team of doctors, nurses, and fellow techs that I had at my last job. It broke my heart that I was told I could never work with those people, who I trusted implicitly, to help save lives ever again. I always thought the “we’re a family” stuff from work was a trap, but I truly miss that place where I wanted to work until I retired.

My question to the folks who know way more about the ins and outs than I do is this:

Is it ever possible to have HR change their mind on a bar to rehire? How can I show that I’ve spent the past year trying to fix myself so that I can be reliable and ask them to change their decision, if it’s even possible?

Thank you for your time.

Does company HR handle private(outside disputes) involving their employee? EX: The employee scams an outside individual.

If the outside individual reports the employee, would they be able to do anything? and what would the legal consequences if any.

Scenario: Involved the employee scamming an outside individual during their working hours. The individual then reports the incident to their HR.

Hi! I hope this is the right place to ask. I’m looking to maximize my time off after having my baby in January. I work in NY. I see options for PFL, FMLA and DBL. I know there are so many rules and regulations, so please let me know if I am understanding correctly!?
I plan to take: 12 weeks FMLA concurrently with Short Term Disability
After that runs up, then 12 weeks PFL
Total 24 weeks off, with job protection.
But then someone told me I have to take PFL and FMLA together. Is that true? I also don’t know if my job is going to allow me to take the 24 weeks off, even if it is protected.

My cousin works as a physical therapist in a small senior-living facility in Southern California, full-time, non-exempt, paid hourly. They typically work 5-7 hours a day, 4-5 days a week. For their workday, they are only scheduled for the hours they see a patient plus 1 hour for admin duties which includes overseeing their assistants, nurses, getting/giving updates to the team, answering emails, etc.

The 1 hour admin time they get is usually not enough to finish documentation required to submit after seeing each patient (10-15 mins per documentation). They are also expected to see (and bill) a patient for the full 1 hour appointment, leaving no buffer time in between. If they stay clocked in beyond the hours scheduled to finish their documentation, it’s being counted against their productivity as they’re not seeing and billing a patient in that time. This has led them to do all documentation when they’re clocked out at home, resulting in approx 10-15 hours a week of unpaid, off the clock work which is an essential part of their overall job.

I told them they shouldn’t be working for free for something that should be factored into their schedule but they said almost everyone at the company does the same to maintain productivity levels…as a non-exempt EE, is this a reasonable/appropriate expectation from her employer?