Ask a Manager

It’s tiny answer Tuesday — seven short answers to seven short questions. Here we go…

1. Should I tell my employer that I’m leaving in part because of my annoying coworker?

I am currently working as a management assistant for a small consulting/engineering firm. It’s an open plan office with around 15 people in it. I’m planning on starting a new job search in about 3 to 4 months, when I get my office management degree. The main reason I want to leave here is because there is not enough work for me to do, which makes it quite boring (but well-paid and with great office hours).

But there is one other thing that makes me want to get out of here ASAP: my colleague two desks down. He’s constantly listening to loud techno music on his ipod, curses, snorts (and makes other various sounds, from whisteling to burping), talks to himself out loud, is impolite and arrogant. This is not just me, it’s a known problem, which nobody handles because he tends to get aggressive if you ask him for example to turn his music down. (Even our manager doesn’t want to say anything. I asked. Several times.) He makes it impossible for me to really concentrate, and to be honest, he just drives me crazy.

When I’m finally ready to move on (with an accepted offer on the table, of course), should I mention that I would’ve most likely stayed longer if it wasn’t for him? And that other people are also talking about leaving or wishing he’d get fired (no names of course)? Or is that a waste of time and energy and generally not a nice thing to do?

A good employer would certainly want to know that their handling of this guy drove you to leave. And to be clear, it’s their handling of him, not the guy himself — because a responsible manager would have dealt with his disruptions long ago.

I would not, however, mention that other people are talking about leaving over him; that’s not yours to share.

2. What to do when employees aren’t logging their time correctly

Our employees are required to clock in for the day, out for lunch, in from lunch and then out for the day. We have over 60 employees and we try to monitor the clock transactions for accuracy every day.

There are about five or six people who have a habit of not punching the clock like they are supposed to. This causes their hours to be short because the system can only calculate their time if there are opposing transactions. We have repeatedly told them that they have to punch the clock, but like I said, the same people keep doing it. My suspicion is that they are coming in late, leaving early or coming back late from lunch and don’t want to lose the time on their paycheck. Coming in late is also a big deal because it goes against the quarterly bonuses they receive. They lose one day’s worth of bonus for every 4 times they are tardy in a quarter.

At what point can we stop babysitting them and just let their checks be shorted? Of course we would put the missed hours on their next check — but what if they never noticed they were shorted?

Legally, you’re required to pay them for all time worked, whether they clocked it or not. And ethically too, for that matter.

However, if it’s important to log their time accurately, then you can and should treat this just like you would any other requirement of their job: require it to be done correctly, spot-check to ensure it’s being done correctly, warn them if they’re not meeting your requirements, and enforce consequences if the problem continues. In this case, if you’re convinced that they’re doing it intentionally to deceive, that’s a serious integrity problem and should be dealt with as such — which could potentially include replacing them if that’s really what’s happening, because someone willing to lie to you isn’t an employee you should keep.

3. Colleague is complaining that I asked her to speak English so I could participate in a conversation

I hope you can give me some clarity in a situation. I am an African American woman. My coworker is Chinese. I came into the lunch room and three Chinese people were speaking English at lunch. When I came in, the woman began to speak Chinese. The other two continued to speak English. I asked the woman if she would speak English because I felt excluded and isolated from the conversation, since I do not speak Chinese. She said I could not ask her not to speak her language. I said I want to be able to join in the conversation since it was our regular lunch group. I also told her she had the right to say no. She left the room and has made a report to HR claiming racial harrassment. Do I have any support for how being excluded makes me feel?

If her complaint is really that you asked her to speak English so you could participate in the conversation and that you made it clear you weren’t insisting on it, her complaint doesn’t hold any water. That’s a legitimate thing to ask, as long as you asked it in a polite way. Obviously, if your delivery was rude, that’s a different story. But the request in and of itself isn’t harassment, and hopefully your HR department will point that out to her. (You might want to approach HR proactively to explain this.)

4. Employer docked my PTO during a natural disaster

I am an exempt, salaried employee. My job description is an outside salesman. During a recent natural disaster, I was unable to leave my home but continued to work from home. My employer garnished PTO for the days I couldn’t leave. Is this allowed by the FLSA or any other laws?

No law requires your employer to offer you paid time off, so they can put whatever rules they want on it, including docking it in a situation like this (although it’s terrible practice to do so, if you were actually working).

5. How long should resumes be kept on file?

I was wondering is there an industry standard as to how long a company should hold resumes received, once the position was filled?

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 requires employers to keep job applications for one year from the date the application was received. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act requires that they be kept for two years for applicants who you’re aware are 40 or older (which means it’s easier to just keep them all for two years, rather than having separate rules for some). And if you’re a government contractor with 150 employees or more, you’re required to keep them for two years. In general, most employers keep them for at least 2-3 years.

The purpose of these laws isn’t to require you to do anything with them after your initial review; rather, the point is because if you’re sued under one of these law, the applications may be looked at as part of the legal action.

6. Interviewing at a company where my sister works

I’m interviewing at my sister’s company in three days, which is a large retail corporation. While she helped my prep for my phone interview (which was last week), she isn’t really giving me special treatment other than some good advice and won’t be present at my face-to-face interview. I’m just wondering whether it would be good practice to just mention the fact that she’s my sister on the day, as a way of making the situation transparent to everyone involved (I think the interviewers may know anyway, since my sister had to bow out of the interview process because of me). Or, would it look like I am name dropping and trying to gain special treatment?

I’d check with your sister to make sure that she has mentioned it, because she should. If the relationship is a concern for them, you want to find that out now, not when you’re about to get an offer or after you’ve already started work. Assuming she’s disclosed it, you don’t need to worry about doing it yourself.

7. Should I continue lying to my manager about my husband?

I’ve worked for my present employer for 2-1/2 years. I received a promotion 6 months ago. I’m now working for a new manager who is very involved in helping me continue to excel.

However, my husband joined the military 4 weeks ago and is currently in bootcamp. I have not told my employer for fear I may be shown the door before I’m ready to resign or they may even take away professional opportunities and training or limit my responsibilities. I wouldn’t want this to happen; I need to increase my professional skills and experience for future opportunities.

My manager and I spend time together outside of work for both professional and personal events. I make up stories, lying about where my husband is when asked. I don’t like to lie to my manager but at this point I don’t know where my husband will be stationed nor do I know when I would be resigning from my position to join him. I also don’t want to burn any bridges with my employer — my new manager has done a lot to help me professionally, but business is business, right? What do you suggest? Do I continue to lie about my husband’s new military career and my possible resignation or do I give the heads up now?

You’re doing more harm to the relationship by lying, because at some point your manager is going to figure it out, and at that point you’ll look terrible for having lied.

Do you have reason to believe you’d be pushed out early if your employer knew that your husband will be transferred at some point (and you along with him)? Have they pushed other people out early when they knew they had an indefinite ending date at some point in the future? If not, I wouldn’t assume that’s going to happen to you.

If, however, you do have reason to believe it, then simply be vague. Say that your husband is busy with work things, which is true. But stop the outright lying.

It’s mini answer Monday — seven short answers to seven short questions. Here we go…

1. I don’t like job candidates asking me what I don’t like about my company

I work in HR and I was conducting a phone interview yesterday. One of the questions asked by the candidate at the end was “What don’t you like about the company?” (She asked this right after asking what i do like about the company.)

Now, I’m all for people doing their research and weighing the pros and cons of working at a particular organization, but I believe it’s inappropriate to ask your interviewer that question, at least in that particular wording. I was put on the spot, and if I actually had anything bad to say, and I said it, and then she told people, it could technically affect my own standing/employment with my company. I actually do love the place I work at, and the only thing is the long commute, so that’s what I said. “It’s not the company, it’s the commute.”

If she wanted to know the negatives of working at my organization, she could just do some research, or reach out to contacts of hers who are working at the company, and NOT involved in the hiring process. What do you think?

Nope, you’re wrong on this one. It’s absolutely reasonable — and, in fact, smart — for candidates to ask questions like this. If your’e not willing to give candidates a reasonably candid view of the good and bad about working for the company, you should bow out of conducting interviews. That’s as much a part of the process as you asking them about their experience; part of your job as an interviewer is to help the candidate determine if they want the job at all.

2. Coworker using baby talk, part 2

I’ve read your post on a coworker using baby talk, and it hit home. I have a similar situation, but the context makes it difficult to bring up — she only does it when talking to our office-mates, and only when discussing friendly, non-work things. She would never use the voice with our boss, or a client, so I don’t feel like I can tell her that she is undermining her credibility as a professional. It’s still unbelievably grating, however, and I know most of the office hates it.

Most of the baby-talk is between her and one other coworker; it’s become their little shtick as they’ve gotten to be friends outside work. But the rest of us have to listen to it all day. Our office is an open-plan room with all 6 employees in the same desk area, all on the same level in the company. Our boss is in another room, and has probably never heard the voice.

Also tricky: the coworker in question is somewhat disliked in the office, and I think she knows it and gets passive-aggressive. She will pick controversial political fights for no reason or ask borderline offensive questions, and there is no way she believes the questions are benign. Most times, however, she’s very nice. I can’t tell if this is a situation where she knows she’s being annoying, or if she’s truly trying to be friendly. We have all told her, repeatedly and bluntly, that we hate the one baby-talk word she uses (‘ewwww, grosie!’), and she just laughs and uses it anyway.

How do I handle this? We are a very small office — no HR person, no one to discuss it with besides our boss, and it seems excessive to bring it up to him when I’m essentially just not this person’s biggest fan. It’s not affecting her work, just the personal atmosphere of the office. I would love to ask her to stop, without putting her on the defensive.

You can ask her to stop in a polite and reasonable way; whether she reacts defensively is up to her. But it’s important to note that the fact that she’s only doing this in social conversations at work doesn’t mean it’s not affecting her professional reputation; it absolutely is. If she’s doing it at work, in earshot of coworkers, it can impact her reputation.

The next time she does it, say this: “Jane, would you mind not doing the baby talk voice? It’s incredibly distracting to hear that in an office.”

3. When an application systems chews up your resume formatting

Do HR professionals typically dismiss a received resume and cover letter if the application program “chewed up” the resume? I’ve submitted a couple of resumes only to see after they were submitted that the formatting is very askew, so I’m wondering if the receiver would understand that or just think I’m an idiot and toss the application? I don’t want to annoy or confuse people but should I bother sending it again?

Depends on the recruiter. They’re less likely to toss it because they think you’re an idiot and more because they don’t want to bother trying to decipher it. If you can upload your resume in PDF, do so. If that’s not allowed and you’re concerned about what the program might do it to, use a plain text version with no formatting.

4. How to talk on your resume about being an early woman in a male-dominated industry

I’m reworking my resume to emphasize my accomplishments over my work history as you suggested, but I’m not sure how to word what I did.

When I started working in the film industry in the camera department, there were very few women working in that capacity. I became a member of a small organization dedicated to helping women within the entertainment industry which has grown into a major org. I was not a founding member, but an early member. Likewise, I was not the first of any of the major accomplishments of women in film, such as being the first to join the ASC, or the first to lens a feature film. But I was a pioneer in helping to break the ‘glass ceiling’ for women and faced a LOT of harassment from men who thought women did not belong on set and tried to make my job harder to discourage me. For example, part of a dolly grip’s job is to move and help set up equipment that supports the camera, but I had a man tell me, “If you think a woman can do this job, then do it. I’m not going to help you lift or move anything.” Their actions and remarks did discouraged me, but never stopped me. I had a lot to prove and I did. Today, it is common for women to be working in the camera department. So, my question is how do I write about my determination to work in the industry in a capacity that wasn’t open to women when I did not achieve acclaim or public recognition for my efforts, but simply helped pave the road for others?

I’m not sure it fits well on a resume, but it’s certainly something that you could talk about in a cover letter or an interview. Resumes are really for what you achieved in the sense of work that was done or things that you built, and less about personal characteristics. But cover letters and interviews are a good place to talk about the latter.

(That said, I could imagine a bullet point on a resume like “one of first women to work successfully in what was then a nearly entirely male field.”)

5. If HR selects candidates, how can they really know what the hiring manager wants?

I started my job search a month ago after being in school for 3 years (finished my undergrad degree and got my MBA), but I previously had 10 years of experience in my field. I’ve submitted about 2 dozen resumes and had 4 interviews so far, but I discovered during 2 of the interviews that the positions were for a lower level than the description made them seem to be, and even the interviewers realized quickly that I was overqualified. Both interviews were set up by company HR professionals who I also had phone interviews with, so I am wondering, do most companies have the hiring manager or HR go through the resumes to select interview candidates? If its HR, how do I know they understand what I do as well as someone who actually works in my field? Now I’m wondering if I have been dismissed for positions which (in my opinion) were a good fit since I have been chosen twice now to interview for bad fits. Maybe that is just part of the process and I have to accept that I have no control?

Some companies do have HR people do the first-round selection of candidates … although a good hiring manager will insist on doing it herself or having it done by someone in her department who knows intimately what they’re looking for, at least if the role is higher than junior level. But in many companies, particularly larger ones, that just doesn’t happen. The way around it is, of course, to network your way in — so that you’re getting to know hiring managers directly and HR becomes a non-factor.

6. Who should I list for references?

As a recent college graduate in my first professional job, the recent spate of questions about references has me wondering who I should be using when I start looking for the second job. Would hiring managers prefer to see my supervisor at this job plus relevant coworkers or colleagues from professional organizations, or my supervisor from this job plus supervisors from college? The college positions were in my field but had significantly less responsibility than my current job. What should people in their first professional jobs who can’t list their current supervisor do? I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen a job ad in my field that doesn’t ask for references at the beginning of the application process, so this will be an issue for anyone in this field who doesn’t want to risk letting their supervisor know they’re job searching.

Assuming that you can’t list your current manager (which is true for most people), then list managers from previous positions. Reference-checkers would nearly always prefer to talk to previous managers than colleagues or contacts from professional organizations, even if those managers were for jobs not in your field. Managers can provide a much different perspective than people who have never been responsible for overseeing your work.

7. My employer wants me to take on a job that I don’t want

I am currently in a job that I have only been in for a little over four months. I would like to leave ASAP but would stay for the recommended time (one year?) except I have one big concern. Currently, I am in Position A. I know that my employer’s goal is for me to eventually handle Position B’s responsibilities, so that the person who is currently in Position B can move to Position C. After seeing firsthand the responsibilities of Position B, I know with 100% certainty that I do not want that job and responsibility. I am scared to still be working there when the Position B person becomes the Position C person and I will need to take over Position B, which I absolutely do not want to do. I am unaware of their timeline. How should I handle this?

Tell your manager now (don’t wait) that you realize they’re hoping you’ll eventually take over Position B, but that you want to remain in your current role and do not want to do Position B. See what they say. They might be assuming you’ll be fine with it, so you need to speak up and let them know that you’re not. That might be enough to change their plans. If it’s not and you’re told that you’re moving to Position B regardless, then you’ll need to decide if you’d rather quit than do that work, or whether you’d prefer to do it over the alternative (unemployment or having to find another job before then).

It’s short answer Sunday — seven short answers to seven short questions. Here we go…

1. Talking to an employee who wasn’t at work when she should have been — but who thought I wouldn’t know

I came to work on Saturday at 1 p.m. to work on a deadline, and found that my Tuesday-Saturday salaried employee had already left for the day. I did not receive an email or a text message either. Everyone I hire is clear that this job is a 40-hour week, and expected to work over, if necessary, though it very seldom happens. What’s the best way to discuss the situation with her and how can I be assured this will not happen again?

Talk with her on her next day in the office and say something like, “I came in at 1 p.m. on Saturday and you were gone for the day. What happened?”

If she has a perfectly good reason (got sick, family emergency, had already worked 50 hours that week, or whatever), then just clarify with her what you’d like her to do in that situation — whether it’s alerting you that she’s leaving early or something else.

And if you suspect that this was anything less than legitimate, I’d watch her a little more carefully to make sure that she really is working when you assume she should be — it’s possible that this wasn’t a one-time thing but rather just the time she got caught. So you might monitor her a little more closely for a while.

2. I’m not getting paid the commission I was promised in writing

I’ve been with my current company for a year now. Initially, I was mostly part-time, hourly, but was told I would receive commission on some sales, with details outlined in writing via an email from my first boss. Fast forward a few months, and when I asked about getting the due commission, I was told “sales aren’t up enough,” which did not seem to be one of the written conditions.

A few more months went by, my old manager was let go, and a new one was hired. When I approached him about it, I was told we would “wipe the slate clean and start fresh” — basically, let go of any past commission I was due, and would start receiving it at that time instead. Yet, still no commission came.

Another few months and that manager was let go and my new manager became our GM, who is the final word on everything in our company. I was given a new title, made full time, salaried, and promised a different commission structure, which I also have in writing. It’s been several months now and I’m still not getting any commission. I’ve contacted our payroll person, thinking it was just a mistake, but that’s been several weeks past with emails and phone calls and nothing has happened. I want to approach my manager with this, but our relationship is rocky at best, and I’m worried that he will tell me that I haven’t earned it in some way (there were no selling conditions on this structure). Am I owed this money, or should I just let it all slide and play out on its own?

If you have it in writing and there aren’t any conditions in there that haven’t been met, then yes, you’re owed this money just as much as you’re owed your regular paycheck. Talk to your manager and say, “It’s been a year now that I’ve been trying to get my commission payments, unsuccessfully. We have an agreement in writing, and I’ve fulfilled all the terms of the agreement. What can we do to get this resolved in the next week?”

Ultimately, if the company just won’t pay, then you’ll have to decide (a) if you want to file a wage claim with your state labor agency and (b) if you want to continue to work for a company that behaves so unethically (and illegally).

3. Is it rude to add in a surprise interviewer?

Before my interview, I was told I would be meeting with Ms. X, then Dr. Y, and finally Dr. Z. I also studied the job description until I knew the requirements and responsibilities by heart.

My meeting with Ms. X from HR went smoothly, but she did not know the specifics of the position. I then met with Dr. Y, who said, “This lab does a lot of work involving UNIX. Do you have any experience with UNIX or computer programming?” I do not, and if computer programming had been mentioned in the original post I would not have applied. I non-answered, saying I was open to learning and asking if UNIX was difficult to pick up. At the end of our talk, Dr. Y said, “If hired, you would be doing a lot of the programming with Mr. W. I will take you down to meet him.” I then had a very awkward interview with Mr. W, whom I had not expected to meet, about a subject I know nothing about.

I wanted to Disapparate by the time I met with Dr. Z, who also asked me about my experience with programming. While I know that programming should have been mentioned in the post – that would have saved everyone’s time — I still feel embarrassed.

Is a surprise fourth interviewer inconsiderate, or should candidates be ready to answer to anyone at the workplace? And would asking why such an important aspect of the job was left out of the description be rude?

Having a job candidate meeting with someone additional on the spur of the moment isn’t terribly unusual. Sometimes it happens because someone ends up being available who they earlier thought wouldn’t be, or simply because they realize it would be helpful for you to talk to someone else. It’s not particularly rude to do that.

Leaving out a major part of the job responsibilities is bad practice though, since it makes it far more likely that they’ll end up wasting their own time and candidates’ time, if it means they’re talking with people who ultimately don’t fit what they need.

4. Leaving a job due to a change in managers

At my previous institution, I lacked a lot of managerial support and professional development. My boss was gone the majority of the time and I felt as though I was doing their job as well as my own. This past year, when I decided to leave, I was adamant that in my next role I needed the support and leadership from a manager that I did not previously receive. I was offered the job at my current institution and was skeptical at first, but the hiring manager told me about their management style, their expectations and their willingness to provide the stability that I lacked in my previous job. I accepted the job based on that information and now, less than a month later, my manager is transitioning into a new position and I am left once again with the instability and concerns regarding who will be taking on that role.

As this position is a contract position, and I know that I would like to move to a full-time permanent position in another department of student affairs in the near future, I am seriously contemplating the idea of searching for and applying for those jobs now, rather than when my contract is up in hopes of avoiding another year of turmoil, upheaval and insecurity. However, given my field is small and many people in the area at other Ontario institutions know each other, am I risking my reputation, current position or burning my bridges by doing this? If I find a job and accept it, does that mean that I am letting my current team down? I am currently conflicted between personal and professional security vs. respect for my current employer. Thoughts?

I’d wait and see who your new manager ends up being, if for no other reason than that it will look premature to others in your small field to leave before you have that information (if in fact you make it clear that you’re leaving because of the unanticipated change).

5. Asking a new contact through my job to connect me to a hiring manager

I recently moved across country to the Pacific Northwest, and haven’t yet been able to land a position in my field (environmental planning). In the meantime, I’ve been working in a related industry while continuing to search for a more permanent position. One of the firms I’ve been keeping an eye on just opened a position in my field; although it’s a bit lower-level than my ideal, it would be a chance to get my foot in the door in my field in this new location. Coincidentally, this firm just became new clients of mine at my current profession, though only over the past two weeks and on a very small scale.

Would it be inappropriate to ask my (very) new contact at this firm to give my contact info to the hiring manager for the position? I have a couple of questions regarding the role and (not-posted) pay range of the position that would affect whether or not I would be at all interested in the position, and there appears to be no way to ask those during the application process (resume submission and a few short supplemental questions). If it would be appropriate to approach them, how would you recommend that I do so?

It feels a little inappropriate, because (a) they really don’t know you yet, and (b) they’re currently working with your current employer (who you just started working for recently), and there’s potential for awkwardness there. I’d simply go ahead and apply rather than asking for anything special through your very new contact.

6. Will it hurt or help to mention that I’ve applied with an organization previously?

I’ve been trying to work at the same organization for two rounds of applications and have been rejected from a total of 3 different positions within the same company over the course of a year. This has been my dream place to work for so long, so I keep trying. Will it help or hurt my application if I mention that I have previously applied and been rejected but continue to apply anyway because of my passion for the organization’s work?

It shouldn’t hurt. It might help, or it might be a neutral. However, the key is to make sure that you’re applying for positions there that you’re truly qualified for. If you’re taking a scattershot approach and applying for a wide range of positions, they’ll think you’re unrealistic about what you’re qualified to do. But if the jobs you’ve gone after are similar, it’s fine to say that you’re continuing to apply because you’d love to work there.

7. How can I reach out to a contact about a job without being awkward?

I’m a soon-to-be recent grad (finishing my Master’s degree in a scientific field). As I’m anticipating graduating in August or September, I’ve begun the job searching process and have picked up so, so many tips from you. My question is about non-awkward networking/ job seeking.

To provide some context, my field of study is broad and highly transferable. However, my specific area of research is very small and everybody knows everybody. While I’d be open to working in other areas and have plenty of marketable skills, I love the topic I currently study. Furthermore, I think I may want to pursue a PhD in this area (eventually). Thus, I’d like to further my expertise in this particular field, and stay connected to the current research. My supervisor has suggested that it may be worthwhile to email one of these big names and see if they have any research assistant openings or connections (and when I say “big names,” the one she specified is one of the biggest).

Now, this wouldn’t be a blind connection. I’ve met the researcher in question and they provided some valuable advice in the early stages of my master’s project. But I still have no idea how to send an email that won’t be totally out of the blue, and completely awkward. The idea of asking essentially “do you maybe have a job for me?” makes me cringe and seems inappropriate, but I don’t want to be insincere about my reasons for making contact, so I’m kind of lost.

Don’t feel weird about this; it’s normal to do. Open your email with something like, “Jane Smith, who I currently work for doing X, suggested that I contact you about possible work you may have for a research assistant, or to see if you might know of someone who could use a person with my background.” Then talk a little about your background and what you’re looking for (briefly, like a paragraph or two), and attach your resume. That’s it.

It’s short answer Saturday — seven short answers to seven short questions. Here we go…

1. My manager told me to cover for an absent coworker without asking if I can

My core hours are 8-5, and another coworker’s hours are 9-6, which is the closing shift for our office. I close for her occasionally when one of us needs to shift our hours. However, our manager, who has only been on staff for a couple of months, sent me an email that my coworker was on PTO for 3 days and that I need to plan on working her hours. First off, I was annoyed that she didn’t ask, as these are not my “core” hours. As well as the time is in one week and I already had plans for 2 of the days. I feel that as she took on the role of manager, this falls on her to cover if she approves the time off before making sure it was covered. I am more than willing to switch hours when I can, but I don’t feel it can be assumed that I will be able to drop everything in my off hours to accommodate. What are your thoughts?

Well, it’s not terribly unusual for her to handle it the way she did, particularly since it’s only a difference of staying until 6 instead of until 5. But if you’re not able to do it some of those days, then you respond back with, “I can do it the first three days, but not the last two because I have plans that I can’t break on those days.” (To be clear, it would still be her prerogative to require you to cover the additional days, but you won’t know whether that will be the case or not unless you speak up about your conflicts.)

2. When your raffle prize isn’t what was promised

If a company raffles a specific type of TV, and the employee who wins it gets a letter stating that he would get some money for the TV but the amount is no way near the specific TV they posted, as the winner do you suck it up and get what they give you or are you entitled to the value of that specific TV or TV itself?

I don’t know, but I do know that raffles are regulated by state laws, so you might start with a check of those. They’re listed here.

3. Can benefits be cut if your hours are cut?

My wife started working full-time with a retail company. She just started getting benefits so I dropped my health plan and we got on hers because it was cheaper. Everything seemed fine until just a couple days ago, when her job started having problems with her scheduling. We have 2 kids and I work a lot of hours. So there are some scheduling conflicts. To make a long story short, her job just hired more people and told everyone that their hours would be cut unless they can be more flexible. My wife is under the impression that if they cut her hours below 30 a week, she will lose her health benefits. I know about COBRA but I’m more concern with the benefit side of it, not the insurance side. Can her job cut her benefits because they cut her hours? We live in Virginia if that matters.

Yes. Most companies (and insurance companies) have policies that say that you must work X hours to be eligible for benefits. That number is usually 30 hours/week, but I’ve also seen it by 20 or other numbers.

4. Should I speak up about my lazy colleague who’s applying for a job that will impact me?

I work in the UK public sector, and my organisation is rigorous in applying equality and diversity law and good practice, which is excellent. There is a vacancy that has arisen that significantly impacts on my work; I am not the line manager for the post but there is an expectation that we cover some of each other’s tasks. A colleague has applied and been shortlisted for interview, who I know will have come across very well in her application and will do so at interview. Very articulate, bright and intelligent. However, she is also craftily lazy. She spends a lot of time during the day surfing social media forums; when “working from home,” I know she is not, comes to work using the flexi system to its maximum, and not paying it back, which means she is actually being paid for full time work but actually only available for work for a maximum of 30 hours (minus the hour’s lunch she takes most days).

I realise this person is being poorly managed, and if she gets the post will continue with the same manager. I also know how our interview panels work. The Head of Department and Personnel representatives will apply a rigorous marking system based on the application form and interview, and will not take into account what this person is like. It is therefore highly likely that we will be working closely together, and I really do not want to. I have no respect for someone who exhibits this kind of behaviour. I do however like her; she is very sociable, and fun.

It seems to me that dogmatically following a procedure is going to result in someone getting a post who has a poor attitude to work and, somewhere in all of this, little respect for colleagues. That will impact on my work and work load. Is there anything I can do to avert what I regard as an unsuitable appointment without looking like a snitch?

I’d speak up and share your impressions. If you keep it objective and make it clear that your focus is on ensuring the best person is hired for the position and not on any personal issues with her, you’re not going to look like a “snitch” (a concept that really doesn’t apply in the workplace anyway). That said, if they’re rigid about only assessing candidates on their interviews and they won’t take into account other feedback, then they have a terrible, misguided hiring process, and there may be nothing you can do about that. That’s one of the problems with such systems.

5. When should I provide additional info to strengthen my candidacy?

I just finished the second of two rounds of interviews for a position that would be my first management position in my current company. During the second interview, my current supervisor asked me to explain certain experiences, and while trying to provide brief and to the point answers (she’s been my boss for two years, so she knows me well), I believe I breezed too quickly through some of my past experiences. When I expressed in my closing that should I not get the position, I would very much want to know what I could do to improve next time, she indicated that I am one of seven final candidates and all six of the other candidates have more experience than I do.

Now, I’ve already sent an initial thank-you note reiterating I have the right experiences, but since our interview, I realized that I could create a one-page cut sheet that explains each of the experiences she’s requested (I’ve been at this organization for 3 years, but I’ve been in this field for over a decade so most of my experience is at other locations). I’m wondering if I should hold off on providing this additional information until I know I receive one of the final interviews or if I should go ahead and send it now? My boss is the one who encouraged me to apply for the position, and I know this information could be critical to her next decision, but I also don’t want to seem too pushy.

Send it now. Otherwise you risk already being cut from the finalist group and never getting the chance to send it. If the goal is to impact her assessment of your candidacy, the time to send it is right now.

6. Company is trying not to pay me overtime

I work at a high-end automobile dealership as a driver. I recently have been promoted to become a service adviser. However, the managers have been a little sketchy on the details of my pay. They just told me that I won’t have any pay increase for 90 days (I currently am on an hourly wage). Ok, that’s fine. They also now want me to work every other Saturday and a few hours later each night as well — sure, no problem. But they don’t want to pay me overtime. They want me to clock out at my regular hour so on the record I’m only working 40 hours/week. They just said they’ll give me $125 for each Saturday I work. I would have made $132 on OT pay for the Saturday shift alone, not to mention the other extra hours during the week I’d be staying late. This sounds like a big rip off and sort of illegal? I live in Texas, and I am not super familiar with all the employment laws but this still doesn’t sound right. Is there anything illegal about what they want to do? How can I approach my boss to discuss this? I definitely do not want to lose the job by doing so, but I feel like I am getting robbed.

It’s not sort of illegal — it’s very illegal. Federal law requires all non-exempt workers to be paid for all time they work, with overtime pay for any hours over 40 worked in a given week. It’s illegal to direct you not to record your hours, and it’s illegal not to pay you for all hours worked plus overtime.

I would say, “We could get in trouble for doing that because of the laws on tracking hours and overtime.” Note the “we” in that sentence — that puts you on their side and makes the statement less adversarial than it might otherwise sound.

7. My own employer didn’t bother to tell me they’d hired someone the day after I applied for an internal position

For the past 10 months, I’ve been interning at a nonprofit. Recently, a staff position opened up and I applied right away. Last week, a month after the job had been posted, I sent a brief email to the HR rep asking if he knew what the timeline for the search was. Never heard back. Today I found out from my supervisor they hired another internal candidate the day the job was posted. Obviously they already had chosen this person and were not planning to do a real search. As frustrating as I find that, I understand it happens frequently. But what really bugs me is that it seems they have no intention of notifying me that the search is over, even after I emailed the HR rep directly about an update. As an internal candidate who has given them almost a year of free labor, is that courtesy too much to ask?

No. That’s outrageous. Doing that to any internal candidate is incredibly rude and inconsiderate (and short-sighted; it’s a good way to destroy people’s loyalty to the organization), but doing it to someone who’s interning for free has a whole extra layer of rudeness to it. You might consider telling them how disappointed you are in the way they handled it … and frankly, I’d seriously consider leaving over it, given that you’re not being paid … unless you think the benefits you’re receiving from continuing to intern there are strongly enough to continue working somewhere that treated you with such disrespect.