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Compensation & Benefits

Can we make payroll deductions to pay for employees’ mistakes?

04/01/2008
Q. Our staff includes employees who do repair work and are paid by the job. We offer a 90-day guarantee to our customers. If a customer has to have a repair redone, can we deduct from the employee’s subsequent wages the money we paid for the faulty first repair? …

Minnesota partners with IRS on employment tax enforcement

04/01/2008
Minnesota is one of 29 states that have signed memoranda of understanding with the IRS to share enforcement information on employment tax collection matters. The move is part of the IRS’ Questionable Employment Tax Practices (QETP) initiative …

How long can we wind up handling wage assignments?

04/01/2008
Q. We have received a wage assignment for one of our employees. How long do we have to keep sending money in? …

What if an employee has more than one wage assignment going on simultaneously?

04/01/2008
Q. We have an employee for whom we have received two wage assignments. Which creditor do we pay? Both proportionally, or just the first one? Or do we alternate? …

Can we refuse to cooperate with a lender on a wage assignment?

04/01/2008
Q. Handling wage assignments seems like a lot of trouble. What if we skip the whole thing? Can we get in trouble? …

Are we allowed to punish employees whose wages are assigned?

04/01/2008
Q. I’m suspicious of employees who can’t handle their own financial affairs. Frankly, I’d rather not have irresponsible people working here. Can I fire an employee whose wages are assigned? …

Never manipulate time sheets to falsely show hours worked

04/01/2008
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the California Labor Code both require employers to keep meticulous records to prove employees are properly compensated. Paper records such as time sheets and pay stubs must accurately show what hours employees actually worked and the pay they earned. Violate those rules at your peril! …

Simple pay mistakes can cost big bucks

04/01/2008
What’s being underpaid $44.63 worth? It netted one lucky California employee more than $10,000 …

Deducting stolen funds from paychecks

04/01/2008
Q. My company terminated an employee suspected of stealing from her cash drawer. May we subtract the missing amount from her final paycheck? …

Payroll records: Timekeeping for exempt, nonexempt workers

04/01/2008
Federal wage-and-hour laws require you to have a reliable system to accurately keep track of employees’ hours and pay. Casual timekeeping systems can easily trigger a back-wage lawsuit. Here’s the bottom line on how to comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act’s complicated requirements.