Morning Profs. I need your input. A young female staff member has poor attendance. Most of the time she feigns sickness. We come to discover she is pregnant but she hasn't said it because she's shy about it because it's her first pregnancy. She's sending sick sheets to HR to justify she's sick but it's not the real situation. She's been absent from work for close to 10 days. We don't think pregnancy is a disease. She's on a 6 month contract. The employer is not happy with her situation and is:

Not to pay her for the absent days

Dismiss her from employment 

What's your input in this Profs?

I accidentally hugged the CEO Yesterday as I was arriving at work, I got to the door of the building just before the CEO. I was holding the door for him, and he reached over me–I assume to take the door and hold it open for me. I’m a woman, and I don’t know… chivalry? Anyway, my brain interpreted this as him going in for a hug. The reflex to hug back came quicker than the realization that greeting coworkers with a hug in the morning is not something people do. We both just pretended it hadn’t happened and made small talk as we walked towards the elevator. How embarrassed should I be about this? Is continuing to pretend it never happened a valid option for handling it going forward?  I’m friendly with him, but we don’t really know each other well. He was involved in hiring me for a fairly junior position I’ve been in for six months, and few months ago we had a running joke that’s since died out, but we don’t work together day-to-day at all. Possibly also relevant: it’s a very laid-back company, a jeans and t-shirt for everyone kind of place.

The CEO wants all employees to undergo a mandatory drug & substance abuse testing to check if they've been working while under the influence of illegal drugs. NB: This happened after it was rumored that some staff were smoking marijuana at the workplace. As the HR, how should I handle this matter? Is it legal? What does the law state?

My boss sits outside my house in her car for hours Due to health reasons, I have been working remotely during the pandemic. I’m grateful to have the type of job where this is possible, and I appreciate my boss’s flexibility. But my boss knows where I live. I have the type of job where occasionally — and on a fixed schedule — I have to look at physical paperwork that my boss reviews before I do. She insists on dropping it off at my house, but instead of a simple handoff, she prefers to review the papers in real time outside my house, sitting in her car for hours directly outside my window. I’m not exaggerating: she camps out there for hours, in plain view of my living room, which also currently serves as my office space. I feel like she’s watching me, or doesn’t trust that I’m really home and really doing my work. The whole thing makes me incredibly uncomfortable. It also makes my husband (another remote worker) even more uncomfortable. I have offered to come pick up the paperwork myself at the office and meet her outside for a quick, masked handoff, but she won’t read between the lines. I think she believes she’s being helpful by bringing it my way. In theory, that’s true. In practice? Not so much. How do I let her know that I would prefer she not sit outside my house like this? How can I tactfully insist that I go pick up these documents myself? It’s worth noting that I would already be back at work if she mandated masks and other COVID-safe protocols within the office. She doesn’t.

When you resign from a job due to a toxic working environment. How do you answer the "Why did you leave your previous job" question without tarnishing the image of your former employer?

An employee came to work drunk and was asked to go home. However, the next day he denied having been drunk. How do you handle such cases? Can our company have alco-blow?

What can you tell me about warning letters? In specific, do they have expiration dates? Can they be used to terminate employment if they are from different years, 2021 to 2024, one in each year?

A female staff member reports that a male colleague hugged her too tightly in the elevator and even tried to kiss her. Since there was no one else around, you summon the male colleague and caution him of such behaviour and he says it was a misunderstanding coz according to him he was just wishing her a "good day". Is there any further action that can be taken bearing in mind that there are no cameras in the elevator?

Should a Human Resource Manager go to a party with junior colleagues over the weekend?