• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Compensation & Benefits

Don’t pay for rest breaks beyond 20 minutes

07/01/2004

Q. Is it mandatory for a nonexempt employee to take at least a 20-minute meal break after working a certain number of hours? —M.M., Illinois

Employees rarely win emotional distress lawsuits.

07/01/2004
When a pharmacist sued for unpaid overtime, he also added an “emotional distress” claim, saying the company’s failure to pay overtime caused him to resign. The court didn’t buy it, saying …

Continued employment may be enough to make noncompetes legal

06/01/2004
If you ask employees to sign an agreement not to compete with your organization for a certain length of time after they leave, the agreement isn’t binding unless you offer the …

Silence pay-related complaints with wise words

06/01/2004
How do the employees at your organization feel about their compensation? If the answer is “Not good,” a bit of explanation from you can calm those troubled waters. Fact: Only 45 …

You can trim health benefits for Medicare-eligible retirees

06/01/2004
If your organization offers health insurance to retired employees, an important new Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ruling says you can reduce or eliminate those benefits after the ex-employee becomes eligible …

Court: Employee ‘on-duty errands’ broaden your legal risk

06/01/2004
Issue: Are you liable for employees’ actions when they run personal errands while on company business? Risk: A new court ruling says “Yes,” raising your legal risks with people who …

Make Full-Day Deductions, Not Partial, for Exempt Staff

06/01/2004

Q. If an exempt employee uses all her sick time and vacation time, then takes a half day off for personal reasons, can I deduct for that half day, or does it have to be a whole day? Has that changed under the new law? —Barbara, Louisiana

Tell sick employees to stay home

06/01/2004
The sluggish economy of recent years has helped encourage more employees to show up at work, even while they’re sick. Nearly 77 percent of employees say they’ve shown up to …

Commissions count in tallying highly compensated exemption

06/01/2004

Q. I have a question about the new highly compensated exemption. I have inside salespeople and their base salary is about $40,000, but their commissions net them over $130,000 a year. Could I classify them as exempt? —Michelle, California

Give employees advance notice of pay changes

06/01/2004
Issue: Should you provide notice about commission-formula changes that could alter employees’ pay? Risk: If you rework pay formulas behind employees’ backs, you could bump up against state wage laws. …