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Question: What can we do to reduce turnover and retain employees? Answer: High turnover can quickly become costly. We recommend the following practices to increase retention:  Advice provided by Mineral. This Q&A does not constitute legal advice and does not address state or local law.  David KatzVice PresidentVMA Insurance Services To send your questions, write to

Question: We have a longtime employee who’s no longer meeting expectations. The owner is afraid to hold them accountable because they’re over 40 and therefore in a protected class. What can we do? Answer: In general, you shouldn’t let an employee’s protected class status deter you from holding them accountable to your performance expectations. After all,

Question: What are whistleblower protections?  Whistleblowing occurs when an employee reports wrongdoing (dangerous, illegal, or unethical activity or practices by the company or its employees) either directly to the employer or to an outside authority. Many laws, including the Occupational Safety and Health Act, consider whistleblowing a protected activity, meaning you can’t lawfully retaliate against

Question: We’ve identified the job candidates we’d like to interview, but we still have applications coming in. Do we need to review every application before moving forward with interviews and making a job offer?  Answer: The short answer is no. There’s no legal requirement to review all the applications before moving forward, and you can always

Question: What is mentoring in the workplace?  Answer: Mentoring is a professional relationship between a senior or more experienced employee (the mentor) and a newer or less experienced one (the mentee). The mentor shares their knowledge and experience, offering guidance, advice, feedback, and encouragement. The mentee, for their part, can go to their mentor with

Question: We would like to add a working interview to our selection process. Is this permitted and are there other options to help us finalize our selection?  Answer: Yes, you can have a working interview as part of your selection process, but there’s a big caveat. If you have the candidate do “real work” that

Question: What should we do when one of our designated paid holidays falls on a weekend when we aren’t open? Do we need to offer an alternative day off?   Answer: No, you don’t need to offer an alternative day off. There are no federal laws requiring private employers to provide paid time off for holidays. 

Question: Can we tell nonexempt employees not to check email and messages when they’re supposed to be off the clock? They’ve been doing this a lot, and we don’t want to continue paying them for this additional, unscheduled time.  Answer: You can tell nonexempt employees that they shouldn’t read or respond to messages when they’re