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Compensation & Benefits

When must lunch breaks be paid?

01/11/2012
Q. Our employee handbook says nonexempt retail em­­ployees can take an unpaid 30-minute lunch break. However, our store is often very busy and employees often take lunch breaks of only 10 to 15 minutes. Should employees be paid?

‘Garage-sale overdose’ and 12 other outrageous reasons for missing work

01/10/2012

Have you seen a lot more empty seats around the workplace these days? When asked to share the most unusual excuses their employees have given for missing work, employers offered the following real-life examples …

12 compensation trends to watch in 2012

01/10/2012
The average pay raise will be modest this year—around 3%—compared to about 4% from 2005 to 2008, just before the economy tanked. Here are a dozen pay trends to consider as your organization weighs how to structure compensation in an age of diminished expectations.

Better performance through recognition: 8 steps

01/09/2012
Slower economies tend to reduce employers’ incentives to say “thank you,” either with pay, perks or actions. Still, a 3% dip in the percentage of companies using recognition programs since 2008 doesn’t suggest a permanent decline, according to a survey by WorldatWork. Eight tips to create a recognition program that drives performance:

Solid record-keeping is the key! Document pay criteria to shoot down EPA cases

01/06/2012

Employers are free to pay em­­ployees different rates based on training, experience and education. You’ll be fine as long as you can justify your pay criteria. However, an employee’s sex is never a legitimate differentiator.

Who is responsible for temp’s claim for workers’ comp benefits?

01/05/2012
Q. We hired a temp worker through an agency while one of our employees was out on a 12-week pregnancy leave. Five weeks after she started with us, she was injured at work. Are we responsible for her workers’ comp claim, or is the temp agency responsible?

Is there anything in the law that makes it illegal to change employees’ schedules?

01/05/2012
Q. We run a small printing company and have an employee whom we want to move from the day shift to the swing shift. Although this employee has the most seniority, he has the least experience with the presses we run during the day. When we told the employee of our plans, he said that moving him would be illegal. Is he correct? We are worried that if we move him and he quits, it won’t be the last time we hear from him.

What’s a standard workweek?

01/05/2012
Q. What’s the definition of a standard workweek? One of our employees claims that overtime is defined as anything over eight hours per workday. Is he correct?

Amtrak HR exec decides she won’t be railroaded

01/05/2012
Amtrak will give an HR executive working at Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station a salary boost of almost $16,000 to bring her into parity with what the railroad pays men doing the same job. She will also receive a lump-sum payment of $171,000.

Chicago’s tough leave lessons: How not to handle FMLA leave

01/04/2012
Here’s a chance to learn from an employer’s FMLA mistakes. Don’t make the same ones yourself.