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Compensation & Benefits

Personal information on work computers: No expectation of privacy

02/24/2009

A New Jersey appeals court has held for the first time that an employee has no reasonable expectation that personal information stored on work computers is private—even if the employee has created a separate password to protect the information. Employers have the right to search work computers.

Do gift cards count as taxable income?

02/24/2009

Q. We plan to give gasoline gift cards to employees as incentives for picking up additional shifts. Are these cards taxable? Can we, the employer, simply pay the employees’ portion of the taxes?

Study cites N.J. as a hotbed of wage-and-hour claims

02/24/2009

A recent report offers some ominous news for New Jersey employers. New Jersey is one of eight states that saw an increase in class-action wage-and-hour cases filed in state court last year. Advice: Brace yourself for even more wage-and-hour litigation. Such cases typically increase during economic downturns …

Study: Pennsylvania a hotbed for W&H claims

02/24/2009

A recent report offers some ominous news for Pennsylvania employers. Pennsylvania is one of eight states that saw an increase in class-action wage-and-hour cases filed in state court last year, according to the Seyfarth Shaw law firm’s new Workplace Class Action Litigation Report.

Reality TV employees settle wage-and-hour disputes

02/24/2009

Workers who alleged they had to endure marathon schedules while working on reality television shows such as “Trading Spouses” and “The Bachelor” have agreed to settle their lawsuits …

Ledbetter Fair Pay Act may apply to pending cases, too

02/24/2009

The recently signed Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act may apply to pay discrimination cases that were filed before the law was signed and after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that employees have just 300 days to file pay claims after the initial alleged discriminatory decision.

Williams-Sonoma sticks fork in Camp Hill call center

02/24/2009

Kitchen supply store Williams-Sonoma closed its Camp Hill call center in January. The company opted to pay its employees 60 days’ wages in lieu of providing the 60-day warning required by the federal WARN Act.

Are there legal risks in capping salaries?

02/24/2009

Q. I have a question about capping employees’ salaries when they reach the top of the pay scale. I’m concerned because the only employees affected are those with many years of service and who happen to be over age 40. Have we made a legal error? Some of the affected employees are angry and have mentioned discrimination based on the residual effect of the cap?

New economic stimulus law will find HR working closely with accounting

02/20/2009

The politics of the economic recovery and stimulus bill President Obama signed on Feb. 17 have been the talk of Washington for weeks. Now get ready to figure out what it really means for business. Tip for HR pros: Plan on spending lots of time in the accounting department.

Record number of employers dispute unemployment claims

02/19/2009

When you fire an employee for misconduct and he proceeds to file an unemployment compensation claim, how does your organization respond? In recent years, record numbers of U.S. employers have challenged those payouts. The rise in challenges can be pegged to more employers citing misconduct as the reason for terminations.