• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Compensation & Benefits

Is it legal for us to restrict when employees may take small amounts of vacation time?

09/21/2012

Q. We recently needed to cut back on some of our employees’ shifts, meaning that some of them now work less than 40 hours per week. In order to bring their hours up to 40, these workers have been filling in their time sheets with varying amounts of their earned vacation. Are we permitted to restrict when our employees may use their earned vacation?

What is California’s law concerning leave for school-related activities?

09/21/2012

Q. With the start of the school year, several of our employees have asked to leave work early to attend parent orientation events at their child’s school. Are we obligated to grant employees time off for these events?

Cooked books pad Thai restaurants’ earnings

09/21/2012
A U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation has uncovered willful FLSA violations by two Chan Dara Thai restaurants in Los Angeles.

DOL: Did Happy Hands dip into paychecks?

09/21/2012
The DOL has filed a lawsuit against Happy Hands Car Wash in Santa Ana, seeking back wages and liquidated damages. A Wage and Hour Division investigation found the car wash was manipulating its payroll records in order to underpay employees.

You don’t have to force workers to take meal breaks

09/21/2012
You no doubt know that employers have to provide for meal breaks under California law. But how far do you have to go to force employees to actually take the break? It turns out, not very far.

Señor Fish on the hook for underpaying hourly wages

09/21/2012
Los Angeles-area restaurant chain Señor Fish has agreed to a settle a Fair Labor Standards Act lawsuit with the DOL. An investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division revealed the taquería business paid its employees “straight time” for all hours worked …

Regs detail the 50% deduction limit for leased employees

09/21/2012

There’s more to leasing employees than clients ­remitting their pay to the leasing company. While employees can be ­reimbursed 100% for their substantiated meal expenses, business deductions are limited to 50%. Normally, the employer is stuck with this deduction disallowance. But the involvement of the leasing company complicates matters.

Can we insist that doctors’ notes include a diagnosis of an employee’s medical condition?

09/20/2012

Q. May we ask for a diagnosis when an employee ­requests a few days of sick leave? Or must we ­accept any doctor’s note without any explanation?

FMLA damages are payroll taxable, court rules

09/20/2012
For a long time, damages employees received under the FMLA weren’t considered payroll taxable because courts read the FMLA’s unique damages provision—which mandates damages equal to lost pay—as not being the same as taxable back pay. A federal trial court has now turned this reasoning on its head.

Health premiums up 4% in 2012, forecast to rise 7% next year

09/19/2012
Annual premiums for employer-sponsored family health coverage reached $15,745 in 2012, up 4% from last year, with workers on average paying $4,316 toward the cost of their coverage, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) survey.  Premiums for worker-only health coverage increased 3% in 2012 to reach $5,615 annually. Here’s a full analysis: