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Compensation & Benefits

High court to decide whether health plans can recoup benefits

03/01/2001
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether health plans can sue to recover benefits from a person who also collects from another source. In the case, an insurance …

Employees must share duty in setting up accommodation

03/01/2001
Denise Davis missed a lot of work over more than five years due to maternity leaves and her Crohn’s disease. During this time, her employer continued to accommodate Davis by …

Labor Dept: FMLA still a struggle but not a major growth barrier

03/01/2001
While the percentage of employers who say it’s difficult to comply with the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) has increased in the past five years, few companies say the law …

Keep job open for worker called to jury duty

03/01/2001

Q. We are a small company and can’t afford to have an employee on extended leave. Can we legally terminate an employee who is called to jury duty and assigned to a lengthy trial? —J.W., New Jersey

Changing work conditions may strip worker’s exemption

03/01/2001
As a U-Haul field manager, William Whitesides spent a lot of time on the road visiting dealerships. But soon after he had an accident, Whitesides was reassigned to office work, …

Sales staff may be exempt from minimum wage

03/01/2001

Q. We are planning to change the pay of one employee from straight salary to a lower salary plus commission. How can we do this without violating wage law? —G.T., South Dakota

Commission must be paid at same time as wages

03/01/2001

Q. We have a written employment contract with a worker that includes her salary, but an additional sheet attached to that outlines the commission structure. If the employee resigns with a month’s notice, what is our obligation to pay approximately $10,500 in earned commissions? —P. D., Pennsylvania

Treat unauthorized overtime as discipline issue

03/01/2001

Q. We verbally warned an employee not to work overtime. Recently, he claimed to have worked 56 hours straight, eating and sleeping only on regular break times. The timecards say he was here, but we don’t have any night staff, so we can’t verify if he was actually at work. Is there anything we can do? —S.T., Michigan

Avoid equal pay suit by comparing employees’ duties, not titles

02/01/2001
Laurie Howard was promoted from secretary to HR coordinator for a United Technologies Automotive plant with 53 employees, all on salary. The head of the plant recommended she be promoted …

Inability to work overtime doesn’t mean worker is disabled

02/01/2001
As a senior train operations manager, Clyde Kellogg regularly put in 60 hours to 80 hours a week, including weekends, holidays and at home. That is, until he appeared to have …