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Compensation & Benefits

Georgia a national leader in public-Pension funding

02/01/2008

Georgia is a national leader in saving up for its public employee pension bill, according to a recent study by the Pew Center on the States. The state’s pension trust is sufficient to cover 96% of projected pension costs, compared to the national average among states of 82% …

A pension to die for

02/01/2008

Is it a sad sign of the times, or a story as old as time? David Willis, postmaster for the U.S. Postal Service in Cornelius, has been indicted for soliciting someone to murder his ex-wife so he wouldn’t have to share his pension benefits with her …

Indiana pension funding lags behind national average

02/01/2008

About half the states—including Indiana—have underfunded their retirement plans for public workers, according to Promises with a Price, a recent study by the Pew Center on the States. Indiana’s funding has been uneven in the past and stands at 64% …

New Jersey makes short list of pension skimpers

02/01/2008

New Jersey is among seven states that have consistently underfunded the retirement plans of their public workers, according to a recent study by the Pew Center on the States. The center predicted that states on the bottom half of the list would have to choose between pension obligations and other public programs, as New Jersey has done …

FLSA doesn’t require pay for optional training that prepares for advancement

02/01/2008

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires employers to compensate employees for any time spent on the job that benefits the employer. There are, however, some exceptions. For example, if employees use their own time to study materials that will qualify them for promotions, that time generally doesn’t have to be paid …

Same job titles don’t always demand identical pay

02/01/2008

While the federal Equal Pay Act prohibits wage discrimination against women, it doesn’t require every employee in the same position to earn the same salary. If you can point to factors other than gender (e.g., seniority, education, experience, skills, etc.), you can set different salaries for employees who hold the same job titles …

Maintain computer time records to prove overtime hours

02/01/2008

When it comes to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), unpaid overtime claims are perhaps the most feared charges. It’s important to have solid records showing the hours worked, even for exempt employees. If it turns out the employee should have been classified as nonexempt, you’ll have to provide compelling evidence of the hours the employee actually worked …

Power to fire doesn’t qualify worker for executive exemption

02/01/2008

Although U.S. Labor Department regulations say exempt executives must supervise the equivalent of two full-time employees, that doesn’t mean an employee is exempt just because he has narrow authority over all employees within the company …

Similar jobs with different pay may be EPA trap

02/01/2008

Here’s a trap that may catch you unaware unless you regularly compare jobs and who actually holds the positions. If two jobs are roughly comparable, but mostly women hold one of the jobs and mostly men hold the other and you pay one more than the other, you are asking for trouble …

Employee or independent contractor? Control is key issue

02/01/2008

Employees are entitled to minimum wage and overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Independent contractors are not. That difference can save companies hundreds of thousands of dollars on their labor budgets—but only if they really are using independent contractors. But if those “independent contractors” are actually employees, they can sue for unpaid wages and overtime …