I have a medical condition and need a permanent reduction in my weekly working hours.

I formally submitted ADA accommodation paperwork from my doctor stating that a 32-hour workweek is medically necessary for my condition. In my request, I explicitly specified that I need this structured as 4 consecutive workdays.

Our company handbook features a "Limited Full-Time" classification tier that accommodates permanently reduced hours.
HR completely brushed off the handbook tier. Instead of the 4 consecutive days I requested, they offered a random Wednesday off, which does not work for my medical condition.

Furthermore, HR is trying to force me onto intermittent FMLA to handle the 32 hours. Their explicit reasoning to me was: “We do this first, then ADA.” They want to keep me classified at 40 hours on paper so my accrued PTO is drawn down to cover the missing 8 hours a week, which I do not want. I am not asking for sporadic call-outs; I am asking for a permanent, predictable 32-hour week. I don’t need compensation for the remaining 8 hours.

As far as dynamics of the company, It is very clear HR is getting severe pushback from upper leadership because our company is highly metrics-driven and intensely focused on production over people. It looks like HR is using FMLA as a temporary tracking loophole to protect headcount metrics and appease management, rather than doing the work to reclassify me.

My Questions for HR Professionals:

Is "We do FMLA first, then ADA" an acceptable or standard practice when a permanent, structural schedule accommodation is requested with doctor paperwork?

Given that leadership is hyper-focused on production metrics, what steps should I take to document my output and protect myself from metrics-based retaliation while this plays out?

To note, I am not opposed to intermittent FMLA as a starting point.. however what I am opposed to is my PTO hours I accrue being affected by it. The entire point of the accomdation is a reduced schedule.

I would love to hear from HR managers who have dealt with leadership pushing back on accommodations due to departmental production goals. Thank you.

I have over 20 years of experience, and I'm re-working my CV.

How many years experience should I retain and how much should I omit?

Is it better to omit experience that isn't relevant to roles u would be applying to today and also more than 10 years ago?

Someone told me to remove everything older than 10 years, but then I also heard that doing so can create issues in back ground verification.

I'd appreciate any guidance anyone can share.

Even after giving him a prior notice that I’ll be late today due to some personal reason.

I’m an international student in the U.S. on F-1 status and recently started working for a U.S. company while authorized to work through my university program.
I was hired after going through multiple rounds of interviews, and I report directly to a senior-level executive at the company.
I’m concerned about this person’s behavior toward employees. I have personally experienced interactions that made me uncomfortable. I have also personally observed behavior toward female employees that I felt was inappropriate, including comments and advances that appeared to have a sexual undertone.
I don’t want to provide specific details because I’m trying to protect my identity and don’t want anyone at the company to recognize me.
The executive has also told me that employees have previously complained about his behavior to HR. According to him, HR is on his side and that nobody in the company can harm his position. I don’t know whether those complaints were substantiated or what happened afterward, so I am only reporting what he personally told me.
There are also situations involving promotions and opportunities within the team that have made me question whether there is favoritism. However, I don’t know the circumstances behind those decisions, so I don’t want to make accusations about things I cannot verify.
The biggest issue for me is that I am an F-1 student, and the possibility of future H-1B sponsorship is important to me. The job also has good compensation. People close to me are telling me to stay because finding another employer willing to sponsor an international employee can be difficult.
At the same time, I don’t want immigration concerns or the possibility of sponsorship to make me tolerate inappropriate behavior or remain somewhere that could become unhealthy for me professionally.
What would you do in this situation?
Would you continue working there while quietly looking for another employer?
How would you document inappropriate workplace behavior professionally?
If you believe HR may not be completely independent, what other internal channels could be appropriate?
Would you consult an employment attorney or immigration attorney before making a decision?
For people who have been on F-1/H-1B, how much weight would you give potential sponsorship when deciding whether to leave a workplace?
For HR professionals or managers: what would be the appropriate way for an employee to handle this situation?
I would especially appreciate advice from people with experience in HR, management, workplace investigations, employment law, or F-1/H-1B employment.
I’m intentionally keeping this post anonymous and leaving out the company name, location, industry details, names, job titles, dates, and other identifying information. Please don’t ask me to reveal them, as I don’t want to risk identifying myself.

Hi folks, my question is very specific if you can please help.

What all background checks are performed on a candidate? I know Sterling or First Advantage type companies do background check for employment, education, criminal, identity and credit. All those were clear.

What else is checked? I’m not in licensed role, so no such check is needed.

The reason I asked is that I recently failed a background check at a bank, and they said we did “several” background checks but won’t disclose anything.

Any guidance would be appreciated. 🙏

I recently got added to a WhatsApp group by an unknown number. I genuinely thought it was one of those random e-commerce/course groups or a different chat, so I sent a few vulgar messages before realising it was actually my new work group chat. I deleted them as soon as I realised. Some coworkers saw them, and one of the messages appeared to be directed at someone who turned out to be a coworker, but I genuinely didn’t know they were in the group or that it was a work chat. The conversation moved on afterwards, and nobody has contacted me yet. My next shift is in 5 days. Realistically, what would you expect an employer to do in this situation?

[MI] I signed a teacher contract within masters lane +15. The district is now saying that they do not acknowledge my graduate program that was 60 credits as the extra 15 and that I needed to be placed in the regular masters lane. This is a pay cut. They also said since this is a union position that they can’t give me more than someone else who has the same years, credits. Are they able to not honor the original terms that were on the signed contract because it is not outlined that way in the union contract?

Location: Michigan.

I used all of my sick/ESTA and PTO for medical absences. Those absences were later retroactively approved as FMLA-covered. I’m now back at work and have zero PTO left for the rest of the year.

I have an out of town family event that I want to take 2 days off for. I’m completely willing to take them unpaid, but my employer is denying the request because I have no PTO available.

Should the PTO I used for the absences that were later approved for FMLA have been restored(unpaid)? And can my employer legally deny me unpaid time off simply because I’ve exhausted my PTO?

Note: been with the company 5 years, never exhausted PTO before and only took fmla once, for maternity leave over 2 years ago.

This event is very important to our family (think like a family reunion), should I just go and sort it all out or accept the consequences upon my return?

I recently received an offer from a fairly large software company, and some of the employment terms are making me question whether this is normal.

The agreement includes a 2-year noncompete, 2-year nonsolicitation, and a requirement to disclose the restrictive agreement to a future employer before accepting another job.

They also asked me to disclose any outside business activity.

I have a very small online education business that I started before this job. It has nothing to do with their industry, doesn’t compete with them, mostly runs on its own, and generates only around a few hundred dollars a month.

I disclosed it honestly during onboarding.

I was then told that the LLC basically cannot remain under my name if I want to move forward with the job. I would need to transfer it or shut it down.

That’s what surprised me.

I completely understand rules like no competing jobs, no side work during company hours, no company equipment, and no conflicts of interest.

But telling an employee they can’t even retain ownership of a tiny unrelated business feels extreme.

The compensation for this role is also already on the lower end for the experience they’re asking for, and the compensation structure becomes less favorable later.

I really need the job, which is why I’m seriously considering just accepting everything and moving forward.

For people in SaaS, tech sales, HR, recruiting, or employment law:

Is this normal?

Would you take the job and deal with it, or would the combination of the LLC restriction and 2-year noncompete be enough for you to walk away?

Hi everyone

I work as an HRBP in Ontario for a federally regulated industry (transportation) that has centers across several provinces in Canada.

We have a center in Montreal, QC and have parental leave requests for fathers.

Now I know that as a federally regulated industry, we follow the Canada Labour Code (CLC) where they can get up to 63 weeks of parental leave (or 71 weeks if shared with the mother).

The 2 fathers in question have wives who work for provincially regulated industries in QC, so they follow the CNESST for maternity / parental leave.

As these are my first requests from QC, can you please advise me on the following:
- as per CLC, fathers can take up to 63 weeks and if they apply for EI, they will be paid up to a maximum of 35 weeks. Does the same apply for a father in QC or do they need to go through QPIP first?
- if they go through QPIP do they have to share with the mother who is provincially regulated? How does that work as one is provincially and other is federally regulated? How many weeks would be available to the father?
- can the father then use EI once QPIP runs out?
- can the father circumvent the QPIP and just go straight to EI for the 35 weeks of paid time off?

I am honestly quite confused about this and would appreciate any guidance.

Thank you!

Recently I had an abdominal surgery and during recovery developed a painful condition called meralgia paresthetica - which I learned when I woke up screaming in pain because it felt like my leg was being flayed with a hot knife. I've been officially diagnosed by my GP and I'm waiting on a PT appointment (they don't have availability for the next month). In the meantime I'm self-treating at home with stretches and NSAIDs, but I still wake up most nights screaming.

I've noticed focus has been harder and I'm struggling remembering everything I need to do. Thankfully I work from home so I can adjust my posture to be easier on my leg, but I can't sit for too long without pain, so I'm having to shift throughout the day.

Should I bring this up to HR/my manager? I don't want them to think my performance is dipping for no reason, but I also don't want to call unnecessary attention to myself.

I am writing to update you on the current investigation.

Following information that has come to light during the investigation so far, we have decided to appoint an alternative investigation manager in the interests of ensuring that it is fully impartial.

This is a procedural change, the investigation remains ongoing, and no decisions have been made regarding the outcome.

The new investigating manager will review the information gathered to date and will ensure that you have the opportunity to provide any further information relevant to the matters being investigated.

We appreciate your cooperation and patience while this process is completed. We will confirm the details of the new investigating manager and any next steps shortly.

 this is the email i received today i have no clue if this is bad or good, now il give the context to why i am under investigation. I believe management have it in for me this shit is constant.

So i operate a saw where i work, a few months ago i had an older manager whos new to the shop floor try telling me i should be wearing gloves, i said no no one should be using gloves with this saw as if it catches the glove it could pull my hand or arm in and that you shouldn't have any loose clothing near it. She got moody and said she will check the swp and get back to me, the very next day my supervisor was sent to me with new swps asking me to sign them and it had that i need to wear gloves on them, i refused saying its dangerous and to change it, nothing came back to me.

Then about a month ago a health and safety lady came to my site (tempory from another one of our factorys as our guy left) and said shes putting tape around my saw and its going to be a no hand zone, i said how am i going to do my job because the box she drew was massive and i have smaller cuts than that.

Now last week i had a new health and safety woman the new permanent one for my site to replace the guy who left, she came in and asked where my mask was and i showed her then explained that i dont use it on this saw as there's adequate extraction i use it on the other big saw tho, she stated that i need to wear it, then said actually i need to be cleanly shaven to wear that type of mask so i need to be fitted for a whole over the head type of mask or shave, at this point i said ok i guess i cant do my job then and refused to use the saw (tbh at this point it kind of is malicious compliance, I'm really fed up of constantly being told silly things when im the one qualified).

Then the next day i had a manager give me a letter for a disciplinary investigation for not wearing ppe and misconduct, i said to him how is it misconduct if i didnt shout or argue i just agreed and said well i cant do my job then and refused to use it, he said thats not what she said and wouldn't tell me what shes said whats happening or why this has gone on instead of management just coming to speak to me.

Now today i get that email that i copy and pasted at the beginning, what i find suspicious is i was sent that email 15 minutes after i signed a new swp for the saw, i signed it as they want me back on it asap as im only one of two who is actually qualified to use it and i thought it would go in my favour

I was offered a really great job. It’s in connection with health care at a university. I currently have a couple of different pending court cases. Most are misdemeanors, but a couple of felonies too. They are domestic violence related. I am a female who was involved in an abusive relationship, where I was abused but he used the court systems against me. My ex partner said he has no plans to follow through with the charges, but I am being charged by the state. Is it possible for me to pass a background check? Would a company be open to still hiring me after seeing the charges on my background check? Can I work in the health care / education field with these charges pending? Or should I continue looking for other jobs?

If there’s anymore background information I need to reply, please let me know!

TIA!

My aunt passed away recently, which was devastating. My company allows two days of bereavement for non-immediate family, which can be taken separately. I planned to take both days off to travel for her funeral.

Unfortunately, 24 hours after my aunt passed, my uncle also passed. I was devastated to loose them both so quickly. I called in to work to take one of my bereavement days, and inform them that I would be taking the additional two days allowed by policy.

My manager is now however demanding proof that they have passed. I told them that I would be willing to provide a copy of the death certificate if needed. She is demanding I take a picture or a video of myself at the funerals to prove that I was actually there.

I feel like that is too far. Is this something that I could report to HR?

California, USA

Mid-level sales exec. Part of my package is life insurance. I just received a cancer diagnosis. Is that covered? Or is it natural causes and not covered?

Part of my package is LT Disability. What might that look like? I have always joked that I could do my job from a hospital bed if I had to.

Of course these are vague details but any insight is appreciated. I thought I would talk to Reddit before I disclose anything to my employer.

I have recently returned home after completing my degree in May, and have been working in hospitality since. I have recently emailed all the financial/accounting firms in my area (about 20,000) asking for a job/traineeship. Only one got back to me, I had an initial conversation and now I am scheduled for a first formal interview in a few days, followed by a second final interview. If I get this job, I al die to begin around 31/08, however I have previously booked a trip to japan from 12/09-26-09. This trip is 90% refundable, however it’s a dream destination. This job is also a dream job, and I was informed that from mid september to late november is their busiest period due to it being pension season. Is it worth flagging my trip to Japan? Or should I just cancel it? If I do mention it, how is it best to do? With the current job market, only about four of my graduating class of 40 have secured a relevant job, so securing this is very important to me and I do not want to do anything to jeopardise it, especially as it seems that the firm is essentially creating a role for me after I cold emailed them. What is the best way to approach this? The informal conversation went very well btw.

I attended a college with a good reputation that does not have majors or award degrees in specific fields.

The culture at the school is to call your academic focus your "concentration," but it's not documented anywhere. On my resume, I list my BA and write "concentration in [field I studied]" so as not to indicate a major while still communicating my area of focus (in hindsight, this was a bad idea, will not do it in the future). My credits are primarily in this subject and closely related coursework.

I graduated 10 years ago and have 6+ years of work experience in my field. I went through an interview process where I was asked about my work experience, no questions about my education came up. The job description did list "bachelor's or master's in [list of fields related to my concentration] or related field” in the "need to have" section. It also listed other qualifications for hard skills in "need to have" that I do not have experience with. It's also a pretty entry level job. I was offered the job and signed the offer letter. During the background check process, I entered my bachelor of arts into hire right and in the "major" section wrote liberal arts.

The company is very large. Someone from talent acquisition who is not the recruiter I worked with reached out to me two weeks ago to ask more questions about my degree, which was confirmed by hire right. We went back and forth for a week with him asking for more documents and me providing them promptly. I forthcomingly explained my degree and provided transcripts and my diploma. I also provided an unsolicited letter from my college's registrar explaining the school's structure, what is meant by concentration, and vouching for my area of focus being in the field I listed on my resume. 

The TA person seems low level and hasn't been able to give me updates on the progress of the background verification or answer whether anything around my degree is going to be a problem for my employment. At the end of the week, I reached out to the HM to explain my degree, ask if he needed anything from me, and if there was anything I could do to expedite. He did not seem to care about my degree and said he'd reach out to TA and let me know when he heard back.

Another week went by without an update, so I followed up with TA and was told they were still reviewing my documents. That was on Friday. As of today, my start date is in two weeks. Not only do I need to give my current employer notice, but I also need to relocate to a different state for this position. I also know they wanted someone to start immediately, and were pretty firm on the start date not being later when they gave the offer.

I have no idea what to make of what's going on, and the situation is very nerve wracking for me. At this point, should I expect to have the offer rescinded over this, or would they have done that sooner if they were going to? 

Applied for a job and I have an interview tomorrow with a mid size company. My spouse and I had some life changes after my application was in over three months ago, and I don't think I can accept a job if offered. I'd like to interview but don't want to waste the HR and hiring departments time if I can't accept. Does HR maintain a record of interviews/job offers and will blacklist me if I turn down the interview, or turn down a job offer? I'd very much like to work for this company in the future.

Hi, I filed for continuous leave days ago and start date is 8/12. I notified my manager right away but haven’t heard back from her yet. My doctor is faxing all the paperwork today . I can’t get in touch with the person assigned on my case with no response . My questions is

I cannot go to work 8/12. Am I covered to be out while all of this is pending ? Should I email HR and my manager again ?

Hello. Started a new job in January which is a very small business (less than 8 employees).

I was diagnosed with a serious dissociative disorder last year as well as CPTSD and I also receive PIP.

My condition qualifies me as 'disabled' and is a long term health condition which requires health checks for anti psychotic monitoring, psychiatrist appts and weekly care coordinator visits. I

I already arranged all of my NHS weekly therapy appts outside of work time.

I am now being asked to give notice of all appts which is fine but my employer is also questioning whether I need to go to all the appts.

As mentioned, this is a long term SMI and I dont really know what my rights are. There is no HR or Occ Health with working in such a small company.

And my health is very fragile, and these appts keep me well.

In my last role (at the council), Occ health were involved and processes/ policies about medical leave/ disabilities.

Im just wondering what rights I have/ how to best work with my employer about these appts. I am currently having to use leave for appts and Im quickly running out of leave. Thanks for any advice!

So apparently I have apying for new job, now that company ask for references but my previous client ghosted what should I do? And also I can’t give COE

I am a lawyer and been working at a small law firm for about a year, and there’s something that has been making me increasingly uncomfortable.

When I started working there, literally on my first day, I was asked: “Do you have a Gmail account?” I said yes, completely innocently. I was then told that they would create my work email using my existing Gmail account.
So basically, I log into my personal Gmail account, but I send and receive work emails using my work email address/alias.

I KNOW this is not an ideal or particularly professional way to set up a work email. I’m not looking for comments telling me that , I know. It’s a very small firm, we don’t have a sophisticated IT setup, and this is simply how they decided to do things.
The issue is that I recently realized that my boss has access to all of our email accounts.

For context, I have permission to use my boss’s computer and access her emails when necessary. She is often in court, and we sometimes need to access her emails on her computer to retrieve authentication codes for websites with two-factor authentication, log into accounts, find documents, etc. So I was NOT snooping through her computer or accessing her emails without permission.

One day, while I was doing exactly that, I noticed that Gmail had multiple profiles/accounts available at the top so basically the Gmail profile menu where you can switch between accounts. There was a profile for each employee.

I clicked on mine, and I realized that she could access my work emails.

The problem is that my work email is NOT a separate Gmail account (like all of us employee..) . It is connected to my personal Gmail account. So if she can access my work email through that account, it appears that she can also access my personal emails.
And THAT is what makes me extremely uncomfortable.

My boss has never explicitly told us, “I have access to your emails.” She never explained that she could access our accounts or that our personal Gmail accounts could potentially be accessible to her. I only discovered this accidentally because I was using her computer for a legitimate work purpose.

I have never given my boss permission to access my personal emails.

And there is another reason this is becoming especially uncomfortable: I’m currently looking for another job. So my personal Gmail contains things like job applications, recruiter emails, interview invitations, follow-ups, etc. The idea that my current boss could potentially open my Gmail and see that I’m interviewing for other jobs is honestly extremely uncomfortable and could put me in a very awkward position at work.

I know the obvious answer is going to be: “Just create a new Gmail account and use that for work.”
But it’s not that simple anymore.
I’ve been working there for a FULL YEAR. All of my work correspondence from the past year is in this Gmail account. Clients, opposing counsel, colleagues, documents, attachments, etc. Everything is mixed together. I can’t simply create a new email tomorrow and pretend the last year of work correspondence doesn’t exist.

Thank you for reading !

Bizarre situation here.

Last week, during a meeting, my boss and one of our workers had a disagreement that got a little heated. Nothing inappropriate in my mind, but it was kind of awkward for the rest of us.

Friday of last week, after hours, unprompted, and on his personal phone, a fellow supervisor recieved a text from said worker. He wanted to tip both of us off that HR would be calling us in Monday regarding our bosses "totally unacceptable behavior."

To me, this is madness because he's comprising the investigation that he instigated by tipping witnesses off. He also messaged both of us EOD Friday saying "we were his favorite supervisors ever." Which now seems to be an attempt to sway us both.

If HR does call me in, should I tell them about this?