By now, most employers know there are certain questions they can ask, and certain questions they must avoid when interviewing a candidate for a job. They know that anti-discrimination laws apply before a worker is even hired, and have heard stories about costly lawsuits resulting from an employer asking the wrong question of a prospective employee during a job interview.

Watch any news channel, listen to any talk radio station or read virtually any online news or social media feed, and chances are, you’ll learn about a new lawsuit being filed against a company based on allegations of harassment, discrimination or retaliatory conduct in the workplace.

I am an inside sales representative for a medical device company. I work hard to build relationships over the phone to sell and consult on products. When I was hired, the president specifically told me this was not a telemarketing job. Recently, I caught the president introducing our team as “the telemarketers.” Is this a sign I should go back to school asap or find another job?

Culture needs to be a constant priority. You can’t expect a bunch of perks to define your company. Instead, spend some time defining your values — afterall, you already know them. Then make sure everyone on your team has buy-in.

We service clients who are kids in the foster care system. We really value when our employees that resign give at least a three-weeks’ notice, so they can transition their clients — kids who have already had upheaval in their lives — to their team members before they leave. Is there any meat that we can put on the bones of a policy requiring a three-week notice, with some type of consequence for not providing this notice?

We are reorganizing and will be eliminating one position. We will have to lay this person off, and I have a few questions about how to handle it: Who needs to be in the room when we tell her? How much severance should we offer? What else do I need to do?

AB 908 increases the amount of paid family leave (PFL) benefits an employee can receive from 55 percent of earnings to either 60 percent or 70 percent of earnings, depending on the employee’s income,” effective Jan. 1, 2018? (Mark your calendars.)

The challenges facing the Sacramento region are not new. Educators and business leaders have spearheaded programs and tapped into grant funding over the years to prepare students for college or a career. But the efforts, they say, have often been disjointed, sometimes overlapped and failed to make a significant impact.

While there are a mountainous number of books and articles about leadership — on the traits and qualities of good leaders, what it takes to be a leader and whether everyone is capable of being a leader — it’s important to remember that leadership boils down to a couple key things: followers and a crystal clear message. To keep the followers, you need to get the message right.  

Last year, we hired someone to run our small business, and we paid him very well. However, he was always coming in late, taking Fridays off, calling in sick, having car trouble and dentist appointments, etc. He was an exempt employee, so we kept paying him as if he was there all the time. He quit and we don’t want to have the same problems with the new hire.