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Compensation & Benefits

How do we pay an employee who does ‘extra’ work?

03/27/2014
Q: An exempt employee will be paid to photograph the company’s annual charitable 10K run. HR would like Accounts Payable to handle it through a separate check, so no taxes would come out of the payment. This doesn’t sound right to Payroll. Who’s right?

How should we handle pay when employee works unauthorized overtime?

03/27/2014
Q. What can we do if our employees worked overtime despite our instruction that they shouldn’t?

T-shirt maker settles OT complaint for $171,000

03/27/2014
San Diego-based Fashion Graphics has agreed to pay back wages and penalties while voluntarily stopping all shipments until the $171,000 is paid to its current and former employees. The screen printer supplies such retail chains as Macy’s, Walmart, Kohl’s and Hot Topic.

Logistics firm settles wage theft allegations

03/27/2014
Mira Loma-based Schneider Logis­­tics has agreed to settle charges it cheated a group of warehouse workers out of $4.7 million in wages. The company, which handles logistics for Walmart, agreed to the settlement without admitting any wrongdoing.

Beware promising that benefits are permanent

03/27/2014
Here’s something to think about when you revise your handbook or send out an announcement outlining your benefit plan: Be sure to tell workers that benefits can change at any time and that this year’s offering isn’t a promise that the benefits described will continue indefinitely.

Negotiating return to work? Don’t rush firing

03/27/2014
Sometimes, employees end up on unpaid leave after complaining about discrimination. Then the employee’s lawyers try to negotiate a settlement that includes returning to work. If you turn down such terms, make sure you get clarification on whether the worker will return even if you don’t meet her demands.

Era of low health care cost growth continues

03/26/2014
The cost of providing employer-sponsored health care benefits is expected to increase 4.4% this year, a slight uptick from 2013, when cost increases fell to a 15-year low, according to an annual survey by Towers Watson and the National Business Group on Health, an association of large employers.

Job candidates can apply to Marriott via phone app

03/26/2014
In January, the Marriott Inter­­na­­tional hotel chain began accepting applications from job-seekers who apply via their cellphones and tablets. The hospitality giant says it is the first in the industry to offer mobile job applications to would-be employees.

Does Minnesota require allowing time off for employees to attend school activities?

03/25/2014
Q. One of our employees came in two hours late today, without an advance call. When he got here, he told his supervisor that he needed “school leave” for the morning. Can we discipline him for being late?

Pay gap shrinking for Millennial women

03/25/2014
Each new group of young women entering the workforce over the past 30 years has started out at a higher average hourly wage relative to men. Here are the statistics on women’s earnings as a percentage of men’s, among 25-to-34-year-olds.