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Compensation & Benefits

Gourmet dining room keeps meal costs down

10/01/2007

You won’t catch employees of the Washington, DC-based American Enterprise Institute (AEI) brown-bagging it for lunch. Instead, they can enjoy three-course gourmet meals served in a top-floor dining room for just $4 …

Be alert to employment law issues related to older employees

10/01/2007

Employment laws give older workers unique protections that younger workers lack. Specifically, the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act and Ohio’s Fair Employment Practices Act prohibit discrimination because of age against workers 40 and older. However, employers are getting a reprieve of sorts from a new EEOC regulation …

NASA employee shoots the moon on company credit card

10/01/2007

NASA recently found its accounts short by more than $157,000. Elizabeth Osborne, a 31-year NASA veteran, used her NASA-issued bank card to make more than 436 personal purchases in Tampa area stores between 2001 and 2005 …

Beware lawsuit if re-Org adversely affects older workers

10/01/2007

If your organization is planning an extensive reorganization or creating an entirely new subsidiary, take care to consider the impact on older workers. If, in the process of leaving one company entity or subsidiary and going to another, older workers lose substantial benefits they used to enjoy, you may be courting an Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) lawsuit …

New Jersey cracks down on employers that misclassify employees

10/01/2007

Warning! Employers that intentionally misclassify employees as independent contractors face new penalties in New Jersey. Employers that intentionally misclassify workers unfairly stifle business competition because the practice lets them reduce labor costs between 15% and 20%, according to some estimates. That leaves employers that don’t cheat at a competitive disadvantage. Plus, employee misclassification strips workers of benefits and disability protection, and cheats the average taxpayer out of revenue …

How can employers get waivers of claims from terminated employees?

10/01/2007

Q. May an employer fire an employee and then ask the employee to sign a waiver of claims or severance agreement? …

Caution when dealing with employees’ ‘protected concerted activity’

10/01/2007
Q. I recently received a memo signed by all four employees in one department asking for 5% raises. Can I have a meeting with them to let them know that there is no money for raises, that their department could easily be eliminated and that they would be smarter just to keep a low profile and do their jobs?

NC officials launch 40% more wage investigations since 2003

10/01/2007

State examiners looking into wage-and-hour violations at North Carolina businesses opened 7,665 investigations in 2006. That’s an 18% increase over the previous year and a nearly 40% increase from 2003 investigation levels, according to the North Carolina Labor Department’s 2006 annual report …

You can pro-Rate bonuses based on FMLA leave time

10/01/2007

Does your organization offer a bonus plan that rewards workers for their productivity? If so, be sure to avoid a surprisingly common mistake that’s tripped up many Indiana employers: incorrectly structuring the bonus plan—or making deductions from bonuses—in a way that violates the FMLA. A new Indiana court ruling shows how an organization can legally pro-rate an employee’s bonus …

Pay raises to stay flat in ’08 while bonus plans take off

10/01/2007

If you’re holding the line on pay raises, you’re in good company. Three new surveys agree that most employers will raise salaries between 3.8% and 3.9% for the second year in a row in 2008, halting a steady upward trend in pay raises that began in 2004 …