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Compensation & Benefits

Beware age discrimination risk when offering promotions

01/01/2007

If you don’t ensure that clearly qualified, post age-40 employees aren’t seriously considered for promotions, you could be risking an expensive lawsuit under the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act …

Employees Can Sue to Rescind Early-Retirement Offers

01/01/2007

A federal district court judge in Texas recently ruled that an employee may proceed with a lawsuit claiming that he was entitled to rescind his early retirement because his employer misrepresented his pension benefits …

Flexibility is ‘Fundamental’ at Wisconsin accounting firm

01/01/2007

Flexibility isn’t a program at accounting firm Jefferson Wells International, says Nadine Guirl, vice president of HR. It’s part of the company’s “fundamental structure”  …

Volunteers can sue for job discrimination

01/01/2007

You may believe that interns, volunteers or other unpaid helpers aren’t official “employees” so they can’t sue for discrimination. You’d be wrong …

Store managers can meet executive exemption without constant on-Site supervising of staff

01/01/2007

The U.S. Labor Department issued an important opinion letter recently that clarifies the criteria that store managers must meet to qualify for the executive exemption under the Fair Labor Standards Act. (Opinion Letter FLSA 2006-35) …

Overtime lawsuits rising: Don’t become the latest target

01/01/2007

The U.S. Labor Department revamped the FLSA regulations in 2004 to help employers and employees understand the rules better. But, so far, the HR world has only seen more overtime lawsuits, not less …

Can you convert all employees to nonexempt?

01/01/2007

Q. For years, we’ve always had salaried employees. But we have many employees who always come in late and leave early. This is hard to track. We are thinking of making them hourly employees and getting a time clock. If I make them all hourly employees, I know that I have to pay overtime, but it might be worth it. Can I legally change their status from exempt to hourly, or are some employees required to be salaried? —B.B., New York

Injured illegal immigrants entitled to lost wages

01/01/2007

Employers beware: If you hire an illegal immigrant and he or she is hurt at work, you may have to pay future lost wages based on the going rate in New York …

One-Time pay penalty can’t be challenged years later

01/01/2007

A temporary suspension without pay is a one-time event, and employees can’t use it as the basis of a lawsuit years later. Those who allege such a pay loss must file a complaint promptly; they can’t argue that later consequences open the door to a lawsuit again …

Even lost opportunity for overtime may be considered illegal retaliation

01/01/2007

After last year’s blockbuster U.S. Supreme Court decision that made it easier for employees to sue for workplace retaliation (Burlington Northern v. White), courts have been trying to figure out how to apply that ruling in real-life situations …