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Compensation & Benefits

How should we pay if our time clock breaks?

07/26/2011
Q. Because of a time-clock malfunction, we couldn’t determine how much pay we owed some employees. What is our obligation to pay employees if we can’t calculate the exact number of hours worked? Is there any penalty for the delayed payment?

Requesting light duty isn’t an official FMLA request

07/26/2011
The FMLA grants time off for em­­ployees with serious health conditions, but they must let employers know they need leave. Simply requesting light-duty work isn’t enough.

Supreme Court sides with Walmart in massive class-action case

07/26/2011
In a 5-4 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court in June rejected class-action status for an estimated 1.5 million female employees who brought gender-discrimination claims against Walmart, the country’s largest private employer. The issue before the High Court wasn’t whether Walmart discriminates against women, but whether the 1.5 million-member class was legitimate.

FLSA beef stirs up lawsuit against Panda Express

07/26/2011
The Chinese fast-food chain Panda Express faces a national overtime lawsuit after a federal district court judge in New York ruled the case could move forward as a class action.

EEOC finds fault with ‘no-fault’ attendance policies

07/26/2011
Telecommunications giant Verizon has agreed to settle a nationwide class-action lawsuit brought by its disabled employees. In all, the company will pay out about $20 million to employees who missed work for reasons related to their disabilities. The lawsuit, filed by the EEOC on behalf of disabled Verizon workers across the country, claims Verizon’s “no-fault” attendance policy violates the ADA.

Blame the bad economy: Telework on the decline

07/25/2011
The total number of people who worked from home or another remote location for an entire day at least once a month has declined for the first time since 2003. The pull-back from telework reflects a psychology driven by the anemic economy, according to an expert.

Altering employee’s schedule? Be sure to document your reasons for making the change

07/25/2011
There are plenty of good reasons why you might have to change an employee’s schedule. Don’t get sloppy about how you implement the change. Make sure you document exactly why you are rejiggering the usual schedule.

Verizon keeps moms-to-be in shape with wellness perks

07/25/2011

Pregnant employees of Verizon Wire­less can keep in shape with Pilates for Pregnancy classes and nutrition seminars. They also can participate in online physician seminars throughout their pregnancies. The perks are part of the organization’s wellness program.

Sodexho honors its ‘heroes’ who volunteer

07/22/2011

Among the 120,000 employees at Sodexho USA are a handful of “Heroes of Everyday Life.” That’s what the food and facilities management services company calls its employees who work to fight hunger in their local communities.

3 ways to tell if your wellness program is paying off

07/21/2011

Congratulations! You’ve cleared the first wellness hurdle: Executives have finally agreed to implement a wellness program. But now they’re asking for hard evidence that the company’s financial investment in the program will pay off. If measuring your program’s ROI seems akin to scaling Mount Everest, take comfort in the fact that more and more employers are successfully making the climb.