r/AskHR

Howdy fellow HR folks,

I'm seeking suggestions on how else I can approach a poor hygiene issue with an employee in my company before issuing disciplinary action. It's clear they are not washing their work clothes and may not be bathing. It is suspected they are experiencing severe depression, and suspected they have sports betting and alcohol addictions, but they are not suspected of being unhoused. The suspected alcoholism and gambling are not performance issues yet and will not be brought up. Core facts:

• They regularly smell of intense body odor, often similar to extremely old sneakers, or like (there's no other way to put it) rancid crotch
• They often wear work-issued shirts which are repeatedly worn, unwashed, to the point of large stains and holes forming in the armpits
• They have previously shared (in casual conversation) that they do not have time to do laundry with their spouse, which they blamed on not receiving their desired shift pattern
• Their de facto response to feedback is sarcasm and blaming others which quickly turns to anger
• Our employee assistance program can connect them with community partners, such as homeless or city resources, which may have free laundry facilities they can use, but they are expected to reject this

Their leader is soon going to have the conversation with the employee, and my company does not allow HR to be present at these initial conversations. My suggestions to the leader are to:

• Open the conversation by saying they are there to address something uncomfortable, but that concern exists because others care about this employee and their well-being. Affirm that the space is a safe place and that they are not there to judge the employee
• Directly address that concerns have been raised about the employee's well-being due to the fact that they come to work in clothes that appear dirty, and sometimes have a noticeable odor
• Affirm that we are concerned about the employee, not judging
• Ask the employee if something is making it difficult for them to keep up with laundry
• Ask the employee how they have been feeling lately and if anything is going on that is making work or home routines harder
• Offer our employee assistance program contact info enforcing that it's free and has a variety of resources from confidential mental health care to community resources
• Reinforce professional standards - coming to work clean, odor-free, and in clothing that is washed and in good condition
• Reinstate they are there not to punish but to understand what's getting in the way and connect them with support

Given that we expect the employee will not be receptive to the conversation, we are expecting the conversation to go poorly. Do any of you have any suggestions as to how else to address this? Would you do anything differently? TIA!

For context I’m a vendor at Amazon the Amazon workers have on site HR.

My question is do other companies have on site HR or is HR more in the corporate office?

I started working a job about a month ago (government owned) and I have a surgery scheduled for December 12th. The probation period is 6 months so I was wondering when I should give notice for this upcoming surgery? Ideally, I’d want to take at least 2 weeks off for recovery. We also have the winter break from the 31st to the 4th.

I’ve never took vacation or time off before at a job so I’m not sure how many days is too many.

Hi team,

Recently started a new job and what a damn mess it is.

I have a non exempt employee that is salaried. International company in partnership with the former HR person (who left a giant mess) made the offer, when in reality it should’ve been exempt due to the job duties.

This employee believes that if they move to exempt that they should be paid significantly more. The issue is, their current salary is in market rate, they are paid well, WAY above the salaried minimum. The former hr person was telling them to not really track their hours as ‘it balances out’ basically treating them like an exempt so they don’t go over 40 hours, but then pulls ‘im at my hours I can’t do that’. A MESS I KNOW.

I truly do not believe that this employee should be making a significant amount more than what they do now, but for whatever reason, they believe otherwise. Will they work extra time, yes, but they are thinking nearly 35-50% increase on top of a salary at/above market for our area and company size.

I’m stuck cleaning so many messes I didnt create and I just want a second opinion to understand if my head is in the right direction. I don’t even know what to do 🙂

I live in MA and have a mental health condition.

I asked HR for accommodation paperwork and they sent it with a deadline of 1 month. Therapist hasn't sent it back to me yet, I got another 1 month extension but that one is almost up, too. Therapist is traveling/dealing with his own family stuff which I told HR when I asked for the first extension.

The company isn't doing well financially, and I really don't want HR to be mad at me. It is a large company and HR operates via support tickets.

Out of the following which is preferable to not get HR irritated at me assuming my provider doesn't get the papers done in the next few days:

- Graciously asking for another 1 month extension (Edit: at first they gave me 3 weeks, I then got a 1 month extension, I'd be asking for yet another extension in this case.)

- Graciously thank them for waiting, ask to close the ticket for now (and plan to re open when my provider can actually get this done)

Have not filed the paperwork yet or told HR what I'm requesting but in case it's relevant: I want to ask HR for intermittent FMLA and intermittent remote work (the latter as a less disruptive alternative to the former, I'm allowed to work hybrid but assumed would be good to have codified.) I almost never call out and am not trying to sneakily get full time WFH. Work is already ok with me working hybrid.

Edit: my GP is equally difficult to reach so he won't be able to fill out the paperwork by the deadline either.

Thanks

Back in January, I requested time off for May 26 and it was approved. I also arranged coverage with a coworker, had it signed off, and gave it to my manager. She even wrote it on her calendar, so it was clearly acknowledged and scheduled.

Fast forward to now — my trip is basically here. I leave May 24, the office is closed for Memorial Day on the 25th, and I’m always off Wednesdays. The only day I actually needed coverage for was May 26.

Last week, the coworker who was supposed to cover me quit.

So I’m stuck wondering:

Am I supposed to find coverage again even though this was approved months ago?.
Can they realistically pull back approved time off this close because someone quit?
Should I bring this up to my manager now… or just assume I’m still going since it was already approved and I planned everything around it?

I already made travel plans based on the approval and it’s too late to change anything.

What would you do in my situation — talk to her or just go?

Hello, sorry if this question sounds weird or too specific, but I’m genuinely curious. If an employee, for example an AI software developer doxxed someone online and it later became public, could they get fired for it?

I know the answer is probably yes and it's dumb to ask, but I’m wondering about the bigger consequences. In tech, especially in AI, companies overlook unethical behavior if the employee is highly skilled or valuable. Historically, some famous hackers even ended up working in cybersecurity after legal trouble, so I’m curious how this works in practice.

Would the company usually fire the employee? Would it affect future jobs permanently? Would it stay on their criminal record forever if it became a legal issue? Does being famous online make the consequences worse compared to being anonymous? Could employers realistically overlook it if the employee is talented enough?

Please answer seriously, I’m genuinely interested in how companies and the law handle situations like this.

I work in an office attached to a home. Without getting into details, the home area is not and can't be separated from the office part. The home kitchen has been infested with pantry moths for 8+ months. I cleaned as best I could but the residents didn't follow up so now they are back and they are in all the office areas. I've apparently now brought one home and came back from a trip and seen two already. I thought I saw one before I left but now I know I have a problem.

Do I have any recourse with my boss? I actually work for a large non-profit so it's not just the boss - we do have an HR department off-site. Is there some sort of reasonable compensation for getting help with de-infesting my house, all the food I have to toss, traps to buy, the time spent? The bigger issue might be that I don't see a way to not bring these pests home with me on a coat or lands in my hair, or one gets in my bag, etc. I see them every day and complain about them often - just so frustrated with this!

I work in HR and recently learned that two members of our HR team (an HR Generalist and someone in Benefits) were discussing my personal 401(k) activity and making negative comments about my financial decisions and situation.

For context, I took a partial distribution for personal liquidity reasons. The issue for me is not the transaction itself — it’s that sensitive employee financial information became gossip within HR.
I escalated the concern to the Head of HR, but the response felt dismissive and more along the lines of “I’ll look into it” rather than treating it as a serious confidentiality and professionalism issue.

All related communication and follow-up conversations are documented.
From an HR/compliance perspective:
How serious would you consider this?

Would you escalate further to legal or let it go after documenting?

Has anyone dealt with situations where HR staff mishandled confidential employee information internally?

I’m trying to approach this professionally and objectively before deciding next steps.

How many times and how many team members opening HR cases does it typically take for HR to see the manager as the problem or a liability? Let’s say they are one rung above individual contributor and have a team of 6. Complaints would include false accusations, calling their subordinates liars, being on a recorded meeting where their tone and voice volume became loud and aggressive. Retaliatory behavior, pregnancy discrimination.

I’m from AZ (USA) I have over 40 hours of sick time. Multiple times my boss has denied my call out due to illness because the “store will be busy”. Even today, I possibly have COVID or the flu. I texted my boss to let him know I can’t come in and he said “tomorrow is the last day of school, the store will be busy. I need you to come in” What are my rights? Can I tell him “No.” ? Again, this has happened to me multiple times where I had to come into work very sick.

Hey everyone, I need some insight from healthcare HR professionals or recruiters. I was hired as a Labor and Delivery Clerk at a kinda understaffed hospital. I completed all my onboarding, but due to a massive communication glitch, I’m stuck.
Here is the exact timeline from the beginning:

The Week Before Orientation: I am cleared and ready to start. However, my onboarding coordinator sends my final orientation details incredibly late. By the time the email actually arrives in my inbox, the orientation has started. HR actually tells me I can still just show up late, but I decline since I live 1 hour away plus I didn't want my very first impression at a new hospital job to be the person who walks in late on day one. We agree to move me to the next orientation.
4 days later: Out of nowhere, I get an email from an Employee Health stating I need a shot that I missed which is fine. I can either take it or sign a declination. I email them saying I don’t want it. They said that’s fine, we will just say you declined it and we’re all good. I go to log into my hospital employee health accounts, but I’ve been unable to access it at all. I email the nurse and tell her if she has any updates regarding my orientation rescheduling date and why I’m unable to access my accounts she says she doesn’t know and CC’s my recruiter/onboarding coordinator.
4 days later: After hearing nothing from my recruiter all day (I called her, no answer | emailed as well, no answer) I call her direct line right as office hours are ending and leave a professional voicemail just asking about orientation rescheduling and my accounts access. Total radio silence. No email replies, no call backs. I try calling her direct line in the afternoon and it goes straight to voicemail (doesn't ring out). I also try calling the central onboarding hotline and it just rings out with no answer.
Today: My onboarding portal and immunization accounts are still locked out (they were locked after the orientation started and I wasn’t there due to the email being sent soooo late). I try calling the recruiter and the central onboarding line again—still straight to voicemail and no answers. They aren’t answering my calls or voicemails but I don’t think it’s just me, it’s probably everyone since I’ve called from different numbers as well.

The hospital runs orientations in blocks. The very next available orientation date isn't until June 12th.

When the nurse cleared me on Monday, she was fully able to access, edit, and approve my active file in the database.
My questions for HR:
Given that I chose not to show up late to that first orientation to protect my professional image, could HR be holding that against me, or is this just a scheduling lag?
If they were planning on rescinding my offer due to the medical delay, would Employee Health still have been allowed to manually process and clear my file days later?
Is it normal for a recruiter to completely ghost a fully compliant candidate just because the next orientation is a few weeks away?
Am I overreacting to normal corporate slowness, or should I be worried?
Am I really fired/rescinding? Would you guys do the same if I was one of your clients?

Thank you!

I currently have a student retail job that I recently started, and I’m being paid $17.60/hour, which is minimum wage in Ontario. I also applied for another job, and the posting says the pay ranges from $17.60 to $21/hour. I’m confused about how that pay range works. Do employees usually have to negotiate, or does the employer decide what to offer? Since I already have a job, I’d only leave if the new position pays better. Also, should I tell them that I currently have a job? Any advice would be appreciated.

I am a woman who has worked with a large finance company for two years. I have been charged with assault and manhandling my manager. She said this to the HR and HR immediately came to the conclusion that I have manhandled her. They told me it's a severe breach of code of conduct. No investigation. I asked for CCTV footage, they denied it. I asked for the code of conduct rules, I was denied that. I stated My side. They refused to acknowledge it. My laptop was taken away. The next day I was told you have to resign. I said I need my laptop to put an official resignation application and to regularise my attendance. They told me you can't. I tried accessing through the portal on phone. They blocked it immediately. They even told me we don't care what you are going through. Even if you commit suicide, we don't care.

Hello,

If this is not the right place to ask, please delete - but I feel overwhelmed and at a loss. I put in a request for a schedule change with my workplace for four, ten hour shifts with supporting documentation from my provider. I did not provide any specific request, just asked for options that would fit the business needs.

I was given options and chose the most ideal - which I thought would work really well and was told I would have a start date once it was approved. Due to the earlier start time, my direct supervisor could not approve the request and it required escalation to upper management.

Now I've been told the originally agreed upon shift does not support the needs of the company.

Is there any path to the originally offered shift without it having been formally approved yet? Why would it have been offered in the first place if it couldn't have been approved? Are there questions I should be asking or options I have as an employee without searching for other employment? Because I love my job and the company, but the hours I work are killing me inside and seriously affecting my health and mental health.

I've applied to a job through LinkedIn and got an interview 2 weeks after. Went through the first phase, got the second one soon after, the third one also followed. They explained this was a 5 stage process and included final interviews with the CRO and the CFO of the company (it is a startup with around 60 employees and the management wants to personally interview every candidate before the final decision is made). All 3 interviewers were amazed and really impressed with me - they were very straightforward about it too.

The next step - call with the CRO - got postponed multiple times due to "scheduling issues". I finally got the interview after 3 weeks of waiting and multiple calls from my side to HR (no updates from them at all). The interview went well and then - complete silence. For another 2-3 weeks, nothing. Please bear in mind, I've explained the situation to the HR multiple times that I was stalling offers because of their company, that was of course my decision but still, I just asked for a bit more responsiveness from their side to just feel safe about the process.

After weeks of waiting, I've texted the HR - no response for days. Then a call to follow up - no answer, switching straight to voicemail. After few days of waiting and calling another time, she answered and told me that the CEO is on a business trip and the call will be scheduled next week. I said I'll wait, even suggested to maybe schedule the call in non-working hours just for me and the CEO to meet because of the time difference. She said she'll definitely schedule it next week, if not during the same week. In the meantime, the mutual friend of me and the company's managers have told me that they are looking forward to me joining them, even being nervous because they are afraid I might choose another company because of this timing problem. And that they don't even have another candidate other than me.

10 days gone, no response, no update, nothing. I've called again - few rings, straight to voicemail. She texts that she's on a meeting and will call me in few hours - no call. Not even on the second day. I called again, this time she answered and said she'll schedule the call next week (it was Friday already). I got furious, confronted her directly and said this was not serious and respectful, even very irresponsible behavior from their side. I said I would accept another offer before the end of the day if I didn't get the confirmation of the call with the CEO. She told me she was sorry a thousand times on behalf of herself and the company and that the CEO now wanted to meet me in person and he was still not back from the trip, that she would personally contact him and promised me that the meeting would happen NEXT WEEK again. I agreed, one final time. For context, exactly 3 months had gone by since the first interview.

The next week came, Wednesday, no update. I call, no answer, she texts she's sorry but she is still trying to schedule the call. I texted her that this is complete bullshit, that the CEO should have enough time to meet with the candidates IF there is a similar policy in their hiring process. I asked her to tell him that this is unprofessional or I would personally contact him to tell him that. Also, I asked to schedule an online call asap or I would just accept another offer and let them know so they start looking for another candidates.

What do you think, is this an HR/policy blunder or a deliberate action from their side to buy some time? Should I wait or take action?

Hi everyone,
I recently accepted a full-time offer for an in-person role (start date around June 1).

My background check has cleared and I-9 verification is also completed. However, I haven’t received any onboarding email or relocation/onboarding instructions yet.

I wanted to ask from your experience:

How long before the start date did you typically receive onboarding details (portal access, HR forms, relocation info, etc.)?

Today was my final day with my employer, and the VP took me out to lunch. During the conversation, he asked where I’ll be working next, and I regrettably shared the company name. My official start date with the new company is next week.

Now I’m wondering: can a former employer realistically pose any risk to your future job after you’ve already accepted the offer and completed onboarding/background checks?

For context, I never caused problems, sabotaged work, or acted unprofessionally. I did my job and worked hard, but culturally I never felt like I fit in well there. Honestly, I also got the sense the VP never really liked me from the beginning, though I never understood why.

The lunch itself was awkward. He said he saw a lot of potential in me, but also mentioned things like, “I could tell from the start that you didn’t really fit here.” I also found out I was officially backfilled today, which makes me think I may have eventually been let go anyway if I hadn’t resigned.

After I told him the company name, he said something along the lines of:
“I appreciate you trusting me. Don’t worry, we aren’t petty like that.”

I'm 26 with a background in mechanical engineering if that makes any difference. Am I overthinking this, or should I be worried that he might reach out to my new employer? What are the actual risks here?

I have a new hire. During interview we had no personal hygiene issue or other problems. Works hard. Good attitude.

Other employees and patients started noticing body odor lately. The new hire is from another country in the South Asia.

We take care of patients all day very close next to them an hour at a time.

How do I approach this?

I applied to the internal transfer without telling my manager. My manager tried to retain me by offering a direct report hiring under me and possible promotion. My transfer didn’t go well. I told my manager and my manager canceled hiring my team member and hired another person over me.

I was furious but stayed professional. Told her that I am still interested moving. She didn’t react to that. But now weird thing is that I never get a call back or initial screening call for the positions I internally applied to. It’s not even within the same department, but across different division of the same company. I used to get 10/10 at least a screening call because I am being reasonable when applying. Now none. I stopped applying internally now after not getting call for 6 positions I applied. Now I am certain my boss asked HR to flag me, is it even possible?