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Compensation & Benefits

Specify if workers must stay to collect bonuses

06/01/2000

Q. Our company pays quarterly and annual bonuses (depending on the position). If an employee is here throughout the entire quarter/year, but leaves before the bonuses are paid out, is he still entitled to the bonus? Our company has no written documentation stating that you must be employed at the time the bonus is paid. —J.S., Colorado

Watch for warning signs of workers’ comp fraud

06/01/2000

Q. We’ve had a number of suspicious injuries at work this year. We don’t want to jump to conclusions, but how can we determine if these injuries are part of a workers’ comp insurance fraud scheme? —K.H., Mississippi

Avoid snap decision on whether illness would qualify under FMLA

06/01/2000
When her three-year-old son awoke with a high fever, congestion and an earache, Juanita Caldwell got permission from an assistant manager to miss her morning …

Public employers can avoid comp-time cash payouts

06/01/2000
Public employers not only have the leeway to offer comp time to nonexempt workers, they can now force the workers to use it. Congress gave state and local governments the …

Employee leave: Step carefully through maze of FMLA, ADA

06/01/2000
When a worker requests a leave of absence for a medical condition, it can be downright puzzling to balance the different requirements …

Don’t try docking pay for smoking breaks.

06/01/2000
An employer who allowed his workers to take a series of short smoking breaks had to compensate them for the time. Reason: Such approved short breaks (20 minutes or less) are …

Fix classification errors promptly or ‘window of correction’ will close

06/01/2000
A group of managers and registered nurses who worked for Santa Clara County, Calif., were classified as exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), making …

If your employees earn tips, beware new audits this fall

06/01/2000
Count on the IRS to resume a controversial audit program aimed at businesses that flagrantly violate tip-reporting rules. It is set to restart on Oct. 1. In addition …

Misleading your employees risks ‘career fraud’ claim

06/01/2000
After General Dynamics reached a settlement in a class-action overtime case, other employees at the company were given the opportunity to “opt in” on the lawsuit in late 1993. But managers allegedly told …

Make sure you have valid reasons for unequal pay

06/01/2000
Valid reasons can include seniority, merit, quality of work, speed of production or, in this case, experience level. Comtech Manufacturing said it paid a male production supervisor 50 cents more an …