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Payroll

Privacy concern: Are ‘group’ time sheets legal?

07/19/2010
Q. Currently, we require each individual employee to fill out his or her own time sheet. But we’re considering a new format that lists all employees on one time sheet. Is this legal? Or should each employee’s time sheet be kept confidential?

Must we pay for our employees’ uniforms?

07/15/2010
Q. Our organization requires employees to wear uniforms on the job. Do we have an obligation to pay for the uniforms?

If we fire dishonest employee, can he collect unemployment comp and vacation pay?

06/02/2010
Q. We have an employee who recently submitted an expense report for more than $1,300 for an extended business trip. We accidentally reimbursed him twice. He did not report the double payment and we did not learn of the mistake until an internal audit two months later. Our company policy prohibits dishonesty and we want to fire the worker for violating this rule. Will he be able to collect unemployment benefits? May we withhold the vacation pay that is due to him under our policy, which would just about make us whole?

Time clocks: What’s the law on rounding up, down?

05/28/2010
Q. Our time-clock software allows for a five-minute grace period at the start and end of each shift. For example, if the employee’s designated start time is 8:00 a.m. and the employee clocks in at either 7:56 a.m. or 8:04 a.m., the actual start time will be logged as 8:00 a.m. for pay purposes. Is this OK?

Add new health insurance numbers to your W-2s

05/21/2010
Beginning in the 2011 tax year, employers will be required to report the “aggregate cost” of “applicable employer-sponsored coverage” on their employees’ W-2 forms.

OK to use deductions to collect from employees?

05/11/2010
Q. If an employee owes us money, can we collect it through deductions from his wages?

Can we make employee pay cost of lost BlackBerry through payroll deductions?

04/19/2010
Q. One of our employees recently took a company-issued BlackBerry with him on a business trip. The employee lost the BlackBerry while out on the town, and the company would like to have him pay for a replacement. Can we deduct the cost of a replacement BlackBerry from his paycheck?

Can we deduct from pay to replace equipment our employee damaged?

04/19/2010
Q. We have an employee whose company-provided laptop fell and broke while he was working from home. Can we deduct the cost of the computer from the employee’s paycheck?

DLSE issues opinion letter on partial-day absences

04/19/2010
The California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) has issued an opinion letter stating that, although employers may not deduct from exempt employees’ salaries for partial-day absences, they may make deductions from employee leave balances in accordance with the employer’s bona fide leave policies.

Can we charge worker a fee for lost paychecks?

04/16/2010
Q. One of our employees is constantly misplacing things, like his W-2 forms and his checks. It’s getting annoying. Can we make him pay a fee? We’re thinking this might make him more careful.