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Compensation & Benefits

Giving Exempt Employees Extra Pay Is Risky Business

11/01/2002

Q. Our company pays overtime to salaried supervisors for hours they work over 40 in a week. I have never heard of this compensation practice. Is it legal? —C.H., Colorado

Accommodate Reduced Hours For Pregnant Worker

11/01/2002

Q. I have a salaried employee who is pregnant. She brought in a doctor’s note that says her hours need to be cut to six per day. Can I either reduce her pay or have her work six days a week? —M.S., Virginia

Who Pays for Uniforms?

11/01/2002

Q. We require employees to wear uniforms. Can we deduct from their paychecks the money to pay for the uniform or clean it? —L.B., Massachusetts

Off-work months during grievance don’t count toward FMLA eligibility

11/01/2002
Plant worker John Plumley was off the job for six months while he dealt with a grievance filed under the collective bargaining agreement. Ultimately, an arbitrator reinstated Plumley and awarded him …

Equal Pay Act: Erase the sex from your pay grades

11/01/2002
THE LAW. The Equal Pay Act (EPA) of 1963 prohibits employers from dishing out different wages or bene-fits on the basis of gender for “equal work on jobs (requiring) equal skill, …

Worker can’t sue for job switch if you have legitimate reasons

10/01/2002
Barbara Policastro was a Northwest Airlines’ sales rep whose territory covered Cincinnati, where she lived. She also had to spend about five days a month servicing cities in northern Kentucky about …

Supreme Court outlook: All quiet on employment-law front

10/01/2002
In its 2001-02 term, which ended in June, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a whirlwind of employment-law decisions. But as the high court plans to open its 2002-03 term …

Dole Out Stipends in a Nonbiased Way

10/01/2002

Q. Is it legal to offer some employees, but not others, stipends to help with education, rent or lodging? —N.G., California

You’re not liable for failing to solve worker’s benefit problem

10/01/2002
Larkin Watson had a chronic heart condition and missed many days of work. His supervisor suggested he reduce his hours from full- to part-time status, which he did. But when his …

Draft benefit-plan documents can be legal

10/01/2002
A brokerage firm employee was seriously injured in a car accident while driving drunk. He applied for coverage under the company’s accidental death and dismemberment policy, but his claim was denied …