Craig A Crispin's Answers

Can an employer creating a new position choose to make it salaried or hourly at his/her discretion or is it regulated?

An employer is free to compensate its employees under any wage or salary structure it wants. No positions exist for which an employer must pay by either hourly wage or salary. An employer does not escape minimum wage and overtime obligations merely because an employee is paid on a salary basis, and it might be that the employer therefore believes that it is legally restricted from compensating an employee on a salary basis who, for purposes of the Fair Labor Standards Act, is nonexempt (...

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Is it legal for an employer to use bullying and false accusation tactics on their employees?

Most employment is at-will, meaning an employer can terminate at any time for any reason. As such, anything short of termination, such as "bullying" or false accusations are also legally acceptable. The law does not guarantee a good workplace or a good employer. All it does is make unlawful such practices when they are motivated by certain "protected classifications," such as age, race, sex, disability, religion, whistleblowing (i.e., reporting illegal conduct by the employer), safety...

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Can a manager yell and scream at employees rip doors off the walls and throw things down? He yells swear words about how

Unfortunately, the law does not protect against a bad boss. Absent a contract for a term of employment, the employment-at-will rule controls, which means the employer can terminate at any time for any reason (so long as it is not an unlawful reason) just as the employee can quit at any time for any reason. Because the employer can terminate at will, it can do anything short of termination as well -- such as make the workplace a very bad place to work. Despite the above general rule, some...

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Can your employer cut you back on hours and pay when you are on salary ?

Absent an express contract providing for a set salary, not subject to reduction, an employer can change the hours, compensation, and working conditions any time. It may do so only going forward. It cannot reduce compensation for time already worked. It cannot also reduce compensation as a way to try to get an employee to quit because of some protected conduct or status (such as age, race, disability, request for medical leave, workers' compensation claim, etc.), but if it is for some...

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Do I have any legal recourse?

It is a legitimate basis for a prospective employer to discriminate between potential employees who arrive on time for interviews and those that don't. Even if you actually arrived at the correct time, if the potential employer believed you were late, it would not violate any law to hold it against you. Discrimination is only illegal when it is because of some protected classification, such as age, race, sex, disability, etc. Unless one of those protected classifications is involved,...

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Can employer take money out of pay for accounting mistake due to overloaded work load

An employer may not make payroll deductions for business losses. This often comes up with breakage, which an employer tries to deduct from an employee's pay, which is illegal. An employer owes the employee the agreed upon wages, regardless of losses. Any claim of the employer against the employee legally must be done through the courts, not by unilateral action by the employer. On the other hand, an employer does have the right to change pay, but only going forward. Once wages or salary is...

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I have just received a Right to Sue letter and in need of a very good attorney. I was badgered for a long time. Sincerely.

The National Employment Lawyers Association website is also a good resource for experienced employment lawyers, at nela.org

Can an employer make an employee pay for accidental damage at work ?

An employer is not lawfully permitted to take a deduction for damage or breakage. Doing so would be an unlawful deduction under Oregon statute ORS 652.610(3), which would provide the employee the right to sue to collect actual damages or $200, whichever is greater, plus reasonable attorneys fees, costs, and a prevailing party fee (up to $500 or more) under ORS 652.615. The above comments do not constitute specific legal advice but are offered for general discussion purposes only. For...

Can an employer tape record her employees without thir consent?

The use of recording devices is addressed by both federal and state statutes. Violating these statutes can result in both a civil suit and also criminal charges. Most statutes were enacted to cover wiretapping and eavesdropping, but the courts have uniformly applied them as well to electronic (i.e., "tape recording") recording of any conversations, including phone calls and in-person conversations, by private persons. It is usually unlawful to record a meeting you are not involved in....

Can an employer fire me for asking to see my records?

You are entitled to see your personnel records by Oregon statute, ORS 652.750. Terminating you for exercising your statutory right of access to those records would be unlawful. Under Oregon common law, a discharge for exercising a right related to one's role as an employee is wrongful and subjects the employer to liability under common law. The above comments are offered for discussion purposes only and do not constitute legal advice.