Help Wanted: Clerks told to renovate retail store?

DEAR CARRIE: I work for a small retail chain that a larger corporation has purchased. The new owner wants to renovate all the stores. It has paid professionals to renovate the higher-performing locations. But it has asked the managers and their staff at the smaller stores to do the renovations themselves.

So we are supposed to buy replacements for ceiling tiles with water damages and other marks. The company will pay for the materials, of course. But our staff is all female and some of us are nervous about climbing ladders to replace ceiling tiles or painting a giant stockroom.

We're used to doing minor housekeeping chores in the store such as vacuuming and dusting and cleaning the staff toilet. But the latest request will be tough. Is it legal for our new employer to require us to renovate the store? -- Legal Cleanup?

DEAR LEGAL: While this certainly is the era of employers requiring employees to do more, your company's request is extreme and unwise, as the corporation could end up spending its renovation savings on workers' compensation cases. Still, the key question, as you asked, is whether such an unusual request is legal.

I spoke with OSHA and it pointed out some concerns. It cited the Occupational Safety and Health Act, which requires employers to provide employees a workplace that is free of "recognized hazards" likely to cause death or harm.

"In the situation you describe," the agency said, "the employer would need to make sure that these employees are properly trained to do the work and would need to provide them with the proper tools and equipment, including personal protective equipment if needed."

And Occupational Safety and Health Administration "hazard communication" rules require employers to tell workers what hazardous materials they are required to handle, said Tony Ciuffo, OSHA's area director, who is based in Westbury.

What are the hazards with tile and paint? Depending on the age of the building, when you remove ceiling tiles, you could disturb some asbestos, something only a professional should handle, Ciuffo said. As for the paint, water-based paints are safe, he said, but with others the agency might have concerns about chemicals and proper ventilation and your inexperience in handling paint.

So he says, determine what the hazards are. Then "discuss them with a duty officer at OSHA and file a complaint if there are hazards they feel the employer is not addressing," Ciuffo said.

DEAR CARRIE: I am an engineer at a local defense contractor. Each year, I have to sign my performance evaluation, but is it company policy not to give employees a copy?

All of the other engineering companies I had worked for always gave employees copies of their reviews. Having a copy to review every few months is a useful tool that could benefit both the employee and the company. Aside from the obvious moral and practical benefits of providing employees with copies of their reviews, what is the legal position? -- No Copy Rule

DEAR NO-COPY: Neither New York State nor federal labor laws require companies to give employee copies of their performance evaluations. It makes perfect sense to provide copies for the reasons you noted. And that's why some companies provide employees copies. But that is company policy, not law.

For more information about workplace safety contact OSHA at 516-334-3344; for more on OSHA's "hazard communication" rules go to http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=10099