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Compensation & Benefits

Green light given for disparate mental, physical benefits

05/01/2000
Seven federal appeals courts have now ruled that the Americans with Disabilities Act doesn’t keep you from offering a different level of benefits …

Erase ERISA errors with new Labor correction program

05/01/2000
If you’ve tripped over the confusing rules surrounding the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), the federal government is giving you a chance to right your wrongs …

Consider alternatives to cash severance

05/01/2000
If you offer severance packages, don’t assume workers want only money. With rising health care costs, they are choosing less severance pay and more outplacement benefits, such as continued health coverage. …

Review new regulations for changing cafeteria plans

05/01/2000
If your company offers a cafeteria benefits plan, examine new rules that the IRS and Treasury Department issued last month. The set of final regulations (T.D. 8878) and proposed regulations …

At-home workers are entitled to workers’ comp

05/01/2000
At-home workers are entitled to workers’ comp – even if they’re injured during activities only marginally related to their job. A sales rep for an auto supply company was seriously injured after he slipped while spreading salt on his …

Don’t let tummy aches turn into entitlements

05/01/2000
Katherine Thorson was fired for excessive absenteeism after missing four days of work due to stomach cramps and medical tests. All of her tests were normal, but weeks later (after her …

Limits on comp time for exempt employees

05/01/2000

Q. One of my managers had to work on a holiday, and the hourly employee who worked with him got double time in addition to the holiday pay. When the salaried employee wanted to take time off shortly afterward, my boss said it was not legal to give him comp time—he would have to be paid for the holiday he worked. The employee would rather have time off. Is there no comp time for anyone? —J.W., North Carolina

Independent contractor label is no protection from overtime

05/01/2000
In 1991, Perdue Farms Inc. changed the status of the chicken catchers at its poultry plants from employees to independent contractors, which made them ineligible …

Pay workers for travel time when you control their travel

05/01/2000
Royal Packing Co. required its agricultural employees to travel to and from the fields each day on company-provided buses. Employees met each morning …

Be careful when altering pregnant worker’s pay

05/01/2000

Q. If a pregnant employee is salaried and is missing two days of work a week, can we legally make her an hourly employee? When the employee was hired, her contract should have been hourly. Is it legal to change the basis of her pay now? —C.H., Michigan