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Compensation & Benefits

Offer, don’t force, light duty as option for FMLA leave

02/01/2005
Issue: Court ruling says employees can perform light-duty work during their FMLA leave.
Benefit: In such cases, time spent on light-duty work would count toward the employees’ 12-week FMLA allotment …

You can set weekly vacation rule, but should you?

02/01/2005

Q. I know we’re allowed to tell employees which months they can’t take vacations, but can we also require that vacations be taken only by the week, and not in daily, hourly or half-day increments? —P.A., Nebraska

Travel Time Is ‘Work Time’ if It Cuts Across Workday

02/01/2005

Q. We hired a new branch manager in a one-person office in another town. Because she earns $19,240 a year, she doesn’t meet the new annual threshold of $23,660 for exempt status, correct? Several times a year, she escorts trips involving overnight stays. While she’s out, she forwards her calls to the host office and closes her doors. How do we compensate her? Am I right that she has to be considered "hourly"? And how do we compensate for the overnight and travel time? —K.H., Kansas

Beware time clock ’rounding’ errors; push for an upgrade

02/01/2005
Issue: The legal and financial hazards of an improperly programmed time clock.
Risk: Thousands in back pay and government penalties, in addition to unwanted publicity.
Action: Audit your timekeeping …

Revamp employment contracts to account for new tax rules

02/01/2005
Issue: A new IRS ruling says signing bonuses and early-termination payments are considered taxable wages.
Risk: Overlooking that decision can trigger compensation problems or IRS penalties.
Action: Take this …

Check state law before deducting cost of lost tools

02/01/2005

Q. We want to start a policy that would deduct the cost of tools from employees’ final paychecks if the tools aren’t returned or if they’re returned damaged. Can we legally do this? —M.P., Kansas

Overrelying on employee referrals? Beware of the legal risks

02/01/2005
Employee-referral programs have become one of the most successful and least expensive recruiting strategies. But even with their popularity, employee-referral programs can be double-edged swords.
Relying too much on employee …

The new risks of premature job offers

02/01/2005
Rescinding job offers just got more legally dangerous. As incredible as it sounds, if you pull the rug out from a candidate’s job offer, the person may be able to sue …

Encourage staff volunteerism, but don’t link it to pay, promotion

02/01/2005
Heads up: More employers are heaping legal trouble on themselves by tracking employees’ volunteerism ef-forts and, in some cases, using that information (either directly or indirectly) as a prerequisite for promotions …

Employ teens? See new list of ‘too dangerous’ jobs

02/01/2005
The U.S. Labor Department unveiled new limits on the type of responsibilities you can give teen employees in certain industries. The key changes, which take effect Feb. 14: new limits on …