Gay, Unfit for Duty, Independent Contractor, Non-Competition

Question One
You are the owner of a catering business. One of your sales reps is gay. He has just returned from Iowa, where he was married to his long term partner. He is well liked, generally, by all of the employees.

He has also decided that he wants to leave his job and has been sending out resumes and responses on Monster.com and other employment search vehicles. He has asked your permission as a reference. You have agreed to do such.
One day, while you are out at a meeting, the receptionist receives a call from a company that may want to hire him. The receptionist, offhandedly, says to the caller: You know he is one of those happy guys, who recently ran off to Iowa to get married.

Later on, the company's H/R director calls you and asks about the employee. The H/R Director wants to know what she was talking about.
What do you say to him?
What do you say to her?
((PLEASE USE THE LAW OF YOUR STATE TO ANSWER THIS QUESTION))

Question Two
Shelley is a Corrections Officer. She is part of a union with a collective bargaining agreement that allows for unlimited sick time. She discovers that she has diabetes. She has to take off for several months to get her diabetes under control. She now wants to return to work. However, her shift supervisor advises you that she had problems doing the job prior to her leave. He believes that with her return and her illness, she will have more problems. He recommends that she be terminated as unfit for duty.
How do you handle this situation?

Question Three
Compare and contrast the two different tests ((IRS/Common Law) in determining whether or not a person is an independent contractor or an employee. Which do you think works the best and why?

Question Four
Your sister in law has worked for a company as an administrative assistant for five years. Basically, she types and answers the phone for the two individuals for whom she works. She has signed a non-competition agreement. The agreement says that she cannot work as an administrative assistant for any company within a five hundred mile radius of her job site and for a period of three years. She has been offered a good job with a company two hundred miles away. She asks you whether or not she could legally take the position. Your response is what?
Please use the law of your state in answering this question.

Question Five
Present, describe and evaluate one legal concept that you first learned about in this class or found the most interesting from our discussions.