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Compensation & Benefits

St. Louis Metro workers settle pre-, post-work OT suit

12/09/2010
Reservation clerks and dispatchers for the St. Louis Metro mass transit system have settled an overtime dispute for $175,000. The money will be split among approximately 100 workers. The St. Louis Metro serves the city and suburbs in Missouri and Illinois.

Calls during FMLA leave lead to emotional-distress lawsuit

12/09/2010
Teach this simple lesson to supervisors who have employees out on FMLA leave: Leave them alone unless there’s a good reason to contact them. Calls and visits can lead to lawsuits claiming emotional distress.

How should we tally overtime pay when employees earn different amounts at different times?

12/09/2010
Q. We have employees who work on-call and often accrue overtime hours. They receive a different amount of pay for on-call work than regularly scheduled work time. How do we calculate their regular rate of pay for overtime purposes?

Fired for no doctor’s note means no unemployment

12/09/2010
Employees terminated for refusing to abide by reasonable work rules aren’t eligible for unemployment compensation. But what constitutes a reasonable rule depends on the circumstances.

When setting pay and bonus plans, take both federal and Minnesota laws into account

12/09/2010

A recent state Supreme Court decision highlights one of the unique problems facing employers: While a pay practice may be valid under state law, it may be illegal under federal law. To ensure they’re in full compliance, employers must be prepared to change their pay practices to conform with the most restrictive law.

GINA’s effect on wellness programs

12/09/2010
To help you better understand your obligations under the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA), we’ve assembled these resources:

Give employees heads-up on new flex spending rules

12/07/2010

The new health care reform law resulted in some changes in the way health care Flexible Spending Accounts will work—and employees need to act on some of those changes right away! Help employees make the most of current FSA benefits and plan future health spending by letting them know about the following changes.

Does new health law require us to cover dependents?

12/07/2010
Q. We offer health insurance coverage only for individual employees. We’ve never provided family coverage for anyone, nor do we make it available at the employee’s cost. An employee with a daughter in grad school says the new health care law requires that she be allowed to add her daughter to the plan because she is younger than 26. Is this true?

Employee can be AWOL even if he phones in

12/06/2010

Many public employees assume rules against being absent without leave protect them from termination as long as they call in. But the Ohio Civil Service Act makes it clear: “[U]nexcused failure to appear for duty as scheduled” may be considered job abandonment if it lasts for 10 days. Calling in doesn’t matter.

It takes just a handful of workers to make a class action

12/06/2010
It’s every employer’s nightmare: A disgruntled former employee files a lawsuit alleging you didn’t pay overtime. Then he asks to turn it into a class action, representing other employees. Now a claim worth a few hundred dollars has turned into a major lawsuit.