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Compensation & Benefits

Long Island restaurants can’t duck fair pay

02/07/2013
A chain of three Long Island Asian restaurants will pay more than $1 million in back wages and penalties to 255 current and former employees who were underpaid.

How to create a valid severance agreement: Sweeten the pot above and beyond the usual

02/07/2013
To prevent lawsuits over layoffs, employers often offer a severance agreement that requires the employee to waive the right to sue. When those agreements involve older workers, they have to meet very specific legal requirements.

‘Fiscal cliff’ law bumps up education, commuter benefits

02/07/2013
In the waning hours of New Year’s Day, Congress passed a bill averting a plunge off the “fiscal cliff,” setting 2013 tax rates—and providing an unexpected boost for employee training and commuter subsidies.

Could your comp system survive a disaster?

02/06/2013
Natural disasters can bring business to a standstill. It’s critical to maintain redundant systems to avoid losing payroll records and preserve the ability to issue paychecks.

Let the sun shine: Daylight Saving Time begins in March

02/06/2013
Daylight saving time begins at 2 a.m., March 10. Graveyard-shift workers, there­­fore, will actually work only seven hours that day.

Resolved: Help staff quit smoking this year

02/05/2013

It’s been a month since many of your employees made New Year’s resolutions to quit smoking in 2013. Are they sticking to their plans? The fact is, you should know. Plenty of evidence reveals that an employer can play a big role in helping employees snuff out their last cigarettes.

Could nonexempts’ use of smartphones cause wage-and-hour liability?

02/01/2013
Hourly employees’ use of smartphones (as well as online email access from remote locations) has boosted worker productivity. However, it has also substantially increased the risk of off-the-clock-work violations.

Texas agencies settle with Feds over pay disparities

02/01/2013
The U.S. Department of Justice and the EEOC have an­­nounced a settlement with two Texas state agen­­cies, resolving pay discrimination allegations at a state department that no longer exists.

In Austin, half-baked pay scheme costs dough

02/01/2013
Chuy’s Panaderia Bakery, which oper­­ates two locations in Austin, has agreed to settle charges of failing to pay the federal minimum wage to 101 employees.

Steakhouse staff worked to the bone for lean pay

02/01/2013
Raleigh’s Brasa Brazilian Steak-house will pay $68,482 to 18 workers after the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division found the steakhouse failed to pay workers overtime when they worked more than 40 hours in a week.