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Payroll

Must we pay out unused vacation days when we fire employees or they quit?

06/01/2009

Q. Is an employer required to pay workers for their unused vacation days when they resign or are terminated?

Judge approves $8 million settlement in UPS case

05/15/2009

A federal judge recently approved an $8 million settlement between UPS and approximately 38,000 current and former California employees. The workers alleged the company failed to provide meal and rest breaks and did not pay terminated employees their wages on a timely basis.

How can we save on payroll but still have employees work their full schedules?

05/11/2009

Q. We are having trouble making payroll and have asked our employees to give up pay for 20 hours per month while they work their regular schedules. Can we do this?

10 ways to stay out of legal trouble while trimming staff

05/04/2009

Even as we watch the stock market slowly recover, organizations are still laying off employees and searching for ways to cut overhead. If your organization is eliminating even one job, plan it carefully. A hasty layoff can create legal problems that cost more down the road than keeping the employee would have. Here are 10 things to consider:

Cash advances help bank employees dress like pros

05/04/2009

Umpqua Bank makes it easy for its 1,700 employees to comply with a strict, professional dress code: It lends them money to buy clothes. Since 1996, the bank, with 150 branches, has advanced money to any employee who asks for it—up to $1,000 a year—to spend on work clothes.

How can we legally handle paychecks when employees use designees for pickup?

04/22/2009

Q. Once a year, we have employees show a picture ID and provide a signature that allows them to authorize someone else to pick up their paychecks for them. If an employee doesn’t provide ID and a signature, we will mail the check or hold it until he or she personally picks it up. Is this legal?

Street Smarts: Your peers weigh in with 5 real-world comp & benefits solutions

04/21/2009

Try these practical, workplace-proven compensation and benefits tips to recognize employees and save time and money.

Furloughs and unpaid time off create wage-and-hour problems

04/07/2009

Family-friendly practices have suddenly taken a back seat as struggling businesses focus on the bottom line. Now employers are looking for other ways to give employees time off, albeit involuntarily. But when employers impose furloughs, forced shutdowns and reduced work schedules on exempt salaried employees in increments of other than a full week, it can jeopardize exemptions under the FLSA.

Can we dock a worker for not wearing a company shirt?

04/07/2009

Q. I own a construction company. We require all employees to wear a company shirt. If an employee does not wear a company shirt, he or she is assessed a $25 per day penalty, which is deducted from the next paycheck. Is this penalty legal?

Dropping your 401(k) match? Watch employees drop the plan

04/07/2009

Suspending contributions to employees’ retirement accounts can immediately save an organization some cash. As the recession wears on, more businesses are looking at that option. Still, few are actually taking this step, and the ones that are have said it is temporary.