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Compensation & Benefits

How can we protect ourselves? We’re worried aging employee will hurt himself

12/24/2008

Q. One of our employees is over age 70 and has recently had memory problems and a car wreck. What (if anything) can we do to protect ourselves from potential workers’ comp claims should he injure himself?

What are the risks of continuing a no-fault attendance policy?

12/24/2008

Q. Our company’s attendance policy calls for issuing a warning when an employee has three absences. Five absences result in a suspension, and seven absences result in termination. Can we continue this policy?

Generous about leave? Beware FMLA suit anyway

12/24/2008

What happens if an employer discourages an employee from taking FMLA leave and instead offers more than 12 weeks off with full pay? Can the employee still sue for interference with his right to FMLA leave if he isn’t reinstated to his prior position or an equivalent? The apparent answer is "yes."

Do we have to grant paid leave for time an employee will spend testifying in court?

12/24/2008

Q. An employee has been subpoenaed to appear as a witness in a criminal case. Are we required to pay him for that time, or can we have him take vacation time or an unpaid leave of absence?

Employers slashing ’09 salary budgets

12/24/2008

Remember those surveys last summer forecasting steady 3.6% salary increases for 2009? Forget about it. U.S. workers, on average, are now projected to receive annual merit increases of between 2.3% and 3.0% …

Retired NFL players’ blitz throws union for a big loss

12/24/2008

Usually, employers get zapped when employees sue, but that isn’t always so. Sometimes the union that represents employees gets slapped with a huge penalty, too—especially if it neglected to look out for workers’ interests.

N.J.’s pension strategy: ‘Promise to pay up later, OK?’

12/24/2008

Tough times call for tough measures. To cope with the effects of the state’s $1.2 billion budget shortfall on its pension obligations, Gov. Jon Corzine has suggested a time-honored, if not terribly innovative, remedy: an IOU.

Trenton power broker convicted of bribery and pension fraud

12/24/2008

Former state Sen. Wayne Bryant, once one of New Jersey’s most powerful politicians, was convicted of bribery and pension fraud for taking state jobs for which he did no work and steering state business to cronies in return.

Congress OKs pension-plan funding relief bill

12/24/2008

Employer retirement plans suffered huge losses in 2008, and employers would face even more burdens if they had to comply with new, stricter funding rules passed under the Pension Protection Act of 2006. For that reason, Congress last month voted to ease those rules …

Court: No punitive damages for lost breaks

12/24/2008

A California appeals court has overturned a large punitive damages jury award in a case involving underpaid wages and missed meal and break periods. Had the court upheld the awards, employers would have had a whole new reason to lose sleep over inaccurate payroll records.