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Compensation & Benefits

Court of Appeal rules in favor of grocery workers

04/17/2009

A California Court of Appeal has reversed a ruling against grocery store workers represented by the United Food and Commercial workers who were locked out during a 4½-month labor dispute in 2003 and 2004. The dispute stemmed from an effort by approximately 8,000 workers at Albertsons and Ralphs grocery stores to obtain unemployment benefits for the time they were locked out.

The HR I.Q. Test: May ’09

04/17/2009

Test your knowledge of recent trends in employment law, comp & benefits and other HR issues with our monthly mini-quiz …

Requiring employees to undergo health-risk assessments could violate the ADA, says EEOC

04/17/2009

The EEOC recently said that employers should not require employees to take health-risk assessments in order to obtain health coverage through the employer. Such tests could violate the ADA’s rules against disability-related inquiries.

Furlough days switched from scheduled to floating days

04/17/2009

On March 6, the state announced that, with the enactment of the 2009 state budget, mandatory furloughs previously imposed on state employees will change to floating furlough days.

Employers aren’t required to offer intermittent FMLA leave for birth, adoptions

04/17/2009

If an employee is taking FMLA leave to care for a newborn or to adopt a child, you can require the person to take any planned FMLA leave in one session. FMLA intermittent leave is not guaranteed for birth and adoption the way it is for other serious conditions that require periodic care.

The impact of partial-day absences on exempt status

04/17/2009

Q. We have a policy that allows exempt employees to take partial days off and have the balance of the day charged against their accrued vacation time in two-hour increments. I have concerns that this arrangement—despite the fact the exempt employees are getting their full salaries—could appear that they’re being treated as hourly employees, thus jeopardizing their FLSA exemption status.

Have attorney draft class-action waiver so it’s enforceable in court

04/17/2009

Employers naturally want to stay out of court. That’s one reason so many organizations have their employees agree to arbitrate claims rather than take them to federal or state court. But if those arbitration agreements aren’t carefully worded, they may be useless.

Owner can be personally liable for FLSA violations

04/17/2009

Here’s an important reminder for small companies and their owners: Don’t think that owners aren’t personally liable for wage-and-hour violations simply because they run their operations through a corporation or limited liability company. As the following case shows, employees can personally sue hands-on owners.

What are the ‘seventh-day’ requirements for paying part-time employees?

04/17/2009

Q. If an employee works four-hour shifts for seven consecutive days, are we required to pay him time-and-a-half for the seventh day? Is it even lawful for us to require him to work seven consecutive days?

DOL to ‘refocus’ on enforcement; add 33% more investigators

04/17/2009

Employers, beware: U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis is promising to “refocus the agency on its enforcement responsibilities” in the coming months. The proof: DOL is adding 250 new field investigators—a staff increase of more than a third—to look into noncompliance on wage-and-hour issues.