Questions about Terms of Employment?

• What are the rules for a tip pool arrangement?
  
  

• Is my wife eligible for unemployment benefits after 2 defaulted paychecks?
  My wife works for a small business that defaulted on her last 2 paychecks. Is she eligible for unemployment benefits in Illinois?
  
  

• Is it legal that my boss took half my job and salary the first week, without discussion after return from FMLA?

I recently returned to work after a FMLA to a salary paid position. Although I brought a doctor's note stating that I had no restrictions my employers decided that I would return with 4 hour shifts for the first week. They also decided that I would receive a half week's salary without having discussed that information with me. My question is...can they do that?

•  Is it legal when my supervisor asks about details of my tardiness?

I was 15 minutes late for work this morning, as soon as I realized I would be late I called my supervisor to say I would be in about 15 minutes late and I would see him shortly. He said okay, when I came in he did not make any comments to me. This afternoon I received an email from him telling me I needed to tell him the details of my tardiness. Is that legal?

• Is it legal to lose pay if missed work while on salary?

I am currently a salaried employee. I work more than 40 hours a week on most weeks. I don’t receive any kind of overtime pay at all, however, I was off two days due to an eye injury and had pay taken off my cheque. I have asked HR and have only gotten vague responses.  Is it legal for this to take place? The company is American owned operating in  Canada. Thanks for your attention. I look forward to finding out.

• Will the military cover my education after my retirement? I'm disabled.

I am 42 yrs old and on active duty with the Air Force. I will be graduating from college in July '07 but want to attend Law School after my retirement (Sept '07). I am pretty confident I will qualify for Voc Rehab; from all sources, including my initial VA meeting, I'll probably be 80% disabled. I live in Texas and intend on retiring in San Antonio.

Will Voc. Rehab pay for Law School? How can I help my chances to justify the expense? What is the criteria Voc. Rehab uses to determine if Law School is the correct path for someone. I have already taken the LSAT and scored a 161, which will get me into many schools. I have have been interviewed by a local law school and I'm confidant that I'll get accepted.

• I'm often late to work, should I change my ways?

I am often late for work. This has been an issue with me for years. As long as I arrive to work or return from my lunch break within a 10-15 minute range, I am usually satisfied. I've read about this issue and apparently tardy people often use a late arrival to exercise some kind of power over their supervisors. I agree with that. I feel like if I can squeak an extra bit of "me" time into the day, I have succeeded somehow.

At my last 3 jobs, I've had basically the same conversation with each supervisor regarding my tardiness. They've all said, "I personally don't care when you come in, as long as you get your work done, but your co-workers have been complaining and I don't want them to think you're getting special treatment." At first I took that as a wink from my boss that it was okay, as long as I kept my co-workers happy. Now I realize that it was just a management technique to get through to me and redirect any blame I have to a third party who wasn't present at our meetings. Either way, I usually change my pattern for a few days, then slowly slip back into my usual schedule with no further discipline.

How do you feel about tardiness in the workplace? Have I been walking a dangerous path with my "no penatly, no foul" attitude? Or do companies tend to view this as a minor nuisance compared to overall productivity, such as personal internet usage or phone calls?