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Compensation & Benefits

Workers’ lawsuit says hotel owners enslaved them

05/13/2008
Four Filipino immigrants have filed a federal lawsuit accusing a pair of Oacoma, S.D., hotel owners of subjecting them to conditions of slavery, forced labor, trafficking in persons and peonage—essentially indentured servitude …

Of MySpace & Money: Don’t try to muzzle millennials’ salary talk

05/13/2008

You’d never discuss how much money you make, right? Dude, that attitude is so 20th century! The 20-somethings you work with eagerly dish about salaries, bonuses and other work topics you might consider taboo. Managers tempted to forbid such talk? Don’t let them! Here’s why.

Effort to Extend Statute of Limitations on Pay-Bias Lawsuits Fails in Congress

05/12/2008
Federal anti-discrimination law gives employees either 180 or 300 days (depending on the state they live in) to file an employment discrimination claim with the EEOC. Pro-employee legislation that aimed to extend that limit much further failed in Congress this month.

Here’s a tip: Know law on paying employees who work for tips

05/12/2008
Hundreds of thousands of Floridians rely on tips for part of their incomes. To stay on the right side of wage-and-hour laws, their employers need to understand the somewhat tricky interplay of tip income and the minimum wage …

Duty differences, experience enough to defeat equal pay claim

05/12/2008
The Equal Pay Act was passed to ensure that women are paid the same as men for substantially equal work. The law does allow for differences based on any factor “other than sex,” but you must be prepared to explain pay differentials in a way that clearly demonstrates why two employees in the same job receive different wages …

SE Michigan businesses leery of state-Run health care

05/09/2008
A survey of Southeast Michigan business owners by the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce indicates serious reservations among area employers about state-run health care …

Must we offer the same position to a temp worker returning from FMLA leave?

05/09/2008
Q. We lease some of our workers from an agency. The agency handles all personnel needs of its employees, but our supervisors provide day-to-day direction to the workers. One of our agency employees, Jane, informed the agency that she was taking FMLA leave for her pregnancy. While Jane was out on leave, the agency supplied us with a replacement, Mary. Jane’s FMLA leave is over, and the agency wants to send her back. We would prefer to keep Mary. Does the FMLA oblige us to let Mary go and bring Jane back? …

Michigan ranks 47th in pay equity

05/09/2008
Michigan women on average earn 69.8 cents for every dollar earned by a man for equivalent work, well below most states, according to the Michigan Women’s Commission …

Enforce overtime approval policies—But pay for all hours worked

05/09/2008

Q. Our company policy requires an employee’s supervisor to approve all overtime. However it’s common for employees to work overtime that has not been approved; time they then record on their time sheets. Since the overtime was never approved, our management takes the position that it does not need to pay for this overtime. My understanding is that all hours worked must be paid. Which is correct? …

Base reinstatement on job held at time leave began

05/07/2008
For determining reinstatement rights under the FMLA, it’s the job the employee was in at the time she began her FMLA leave that counts. As long as the job she returns to is substantially equivalent, it does not matter that the job may be below her capacities and educational background …