I cheated on my expense report, and expensed a meal that was personal. I felt guilty and afraid I’d get caught, so I confessed, apologized and reimbursed the company. My boss thanked me for being honest, then fired me for stealing and is denying me unemployment benefits. Any advice for how to appeal the denial of benefits?
I applaud you for wanting to make it right, and if you were a strong performing employee who never committed any company violation or received disciplinary action I think many employers probably would not have fired you. It’s not as if “creative” expenses never happen. Reach out to your former employer and plead for leniency. Tell them that you understand their decision and losing your job over the cost of a meal was stupid, but given that you came clean when they likely never would have known, and reimbursed them, would they consider letting you to collect unemployment to help you get back on your feet, with a lesson learned.

I’m a small business owner forced to pay my staff $16 per hour. Can I pay my staff off the books instead and put more money in their pockets that way, rather than take out taxes?
I applaud your altruistic motive to put more money in the pockets of your employees, since I’m sure that the savings for you have nothing to do with this strategy… However, you are creating legal and financial problems for yourself and potentially your employees, too. Violating federal and state labor laws is not the answer. No one wants to deny anyone from earning a livable wage; however, there are unintended consequences that have to be considered too. Will you have to raise prices to offset your rising costs, and will that drive business down and put at risk the employment of the very people the laws were designed to help? And if you don’t pass on the rising cost, will that put the business in jeopardy? It’s hard being a small business owner and they are an engine for job creation in the economy. The only advice I can offer is to stay on the right side of the law and provide a great customer and employee experience.

Gregory Giangrande has over 25 years of experience as a chief human resources executive. Hear Greg Wed. at 9:35 a.m. on iHeartRadio 710 WOR with Len Berman and Michael Riedel. Email: GoToGreg@NYPost.com. Follow: GoToGreg.com and on Twitter: @GregGiangrande