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Compensation & Benefits

Offset bonus pay against weekly overtime with care

02/01/2003
Fabri-Centers gave workers several bonus payments above their base pay, including shift differentials, holiday pay and spot bonuses. But the company calculated employees’…

Employee Can’t Claim COBRA if Not Enrolled in Plan

02/01/2003

Q. We offer insurance benefits that begin six months after hire. Due to changing business conditions, we had to terminate an employee after only 10 months on the job. But the worker wasn’t signed up for the health plan on his termination date. Does he now have any claim to COBRA? —M.R., South Carolina

‘Possibility’ of serious illness wins coverage

02/01/2003
The rule has been drummed into your brain: An employee can take job-protected leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) if he suffers from a …

Offer accommodation, but don’t mandate extra leave

02/01/2003

Q. We’re afraid that a previously injured worker returned from medical leave too early. Can we require him to take additional leave if it’s obvious that the injury is still hurting his job performance? —M.D., Wyoming

Hiring managers? You have more salary bargaining power

02/01/2003
Reason: Managers and professionals now make up 48 percent of those who fall in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ class of “chronically unemployed,” those who were jobless …

FLSA, FMLA enforcement reaches record highs

02/01/2003
If you thought the regulatory watchdogs would become lap dogs under the Bush administration, you were wrong. In fiscal 2002, the U.S. Labor Department collected $143 …

Supreme Court upholds pro-union fund-raising tactic

02/01/2003
In a victory for unions, the Supreme Court recently let stand a lower court ruling that said employees can be forced to pay mandatory dues for union organizing that occurs …

When to Pay for On-Call Time

02/01/2003

Q. When do we have to count “on-call” time as hours worked?—L.G., California

Bush to halt Clinton-era rule opening UI funds for paid leave

01/01/2003
Acting to quiet business’s criticism and protect state unemployment insurance dollars, the U.S. Labor Depart-ment says it plans to repeal a Clinton administration regulation that gives states the option of dipping …

True ‘disability’ limits employees’ life activities, not just job tasks

01/01/2003
After less than a month on the job, Mark Mack was put on leave when an injury prevented him from lifting and kneeling, both of which were required for his job …