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Compensation & Benefits

Payroll blunder leads to big payday for Hurricane Katrina workers

02/01/2008

Two companies providing services in the Hurricane Katrina recovery have agreed to pay a total of nearly $1 million to settle claims that nearly 400 workers weren’t paid fairly for their overtime hours …

Do we have to pay for ‘Promised’ hours?

02/01/2008

Q. We have a part-time, hourly employee who usually works three days per week for 12 hours. If we don’t have enough work to fill the time, can we send her home without paying her for the unworked hours that week? — J.T., South Carolina …

Shipping interstate or intrastate? It matters for overtime

02/01/2008

Due to a legislative quirk, the Fair Labor Standards Act doesn’t cover many employees who deliver goods via the nation’s highways. Instead, the drivers are excluded under the FLSA’s motor carrier safety exemption. But it’s not so simple …

Sonoma McDonald’s to pay over $1 million to end wage case

02/01/2008

The owner of several Sonoma County McDonald’s restaurants has agreed to pay $1,155,407 to settle wage-and-hour claims brought by its workers. A class of approximately 1,000 workers claimed that DCT Inc. and Mendes Family Enterprises Inc. denied them overtime pay and breaks …

Make sure you pay what contract states

02/01/2008

Indiana employers, listen up! Pay your workers what you say you will pay them, or get ready to pay a lot more. Employees can sue for unpaid wages under the Indiana Wage Payment Act and collect three times their unpaid wages. That can add up quickly …

CVS fined for child labor, overtime and timecard violations

02/01/2008

CVS Caremark Corp. was fined $226,000 by the U.S. Labor Department for changing employee timecards and violating child labor laws. The department found 43 violations at stores in Pennsylvania and six other states …

$17,000 brightens day for Worthington mushroom workers

02/01/2008

A group of fired Thai workers have settled an unpaid-wages lawsuit with Creekside Mushrooms of Worthington. The mushroom grower will pay $17,376 in back wages to four workers …

Tell applicants upfront about schedule, seniority system

02/01/2008

If you have a system that gives the most senior employees their picks of the best days off, it’s fair to both job applicants and the organization to be clear about what hours new hires should expect to work. The best approach is to ask about work availability upfront—right on the job application …

Employment law lite: Court says monkeys, chimps can’t sue

02/01/2008

A Texas appeals court had dismissed a lawsuit filed by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) on behalf of nine chimpanzees and monkeys. The court said the primates don’t have an independent right to sue …

Colorado Minimum Wage Law

02/01/2008
On Jan. 1, 2008, the Colorado minimum wage rose to $7.02 per hour, compared to the current federal minimum wage of $5.85 per hour …