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Payroll

Contractor decision costs FedEx $319 million as class action grows

07/24/2008
Official class notices were sent out in June to 27,165 present and former FedEx delivery drivers in the multidistrict lawsuit challenging the company’s independent contractor model. The court certified class-action status for drivers from 19 states, including Pennsylvania …

Exempt employees and negative leave balances

07/24/2008
Q. I know I must pay exempt employees their full salaries even if they have no accrued benefits in their leave plans and their accounts have negative balances. But can I keep negative balance tallies and then subtract the negative balances as the employees earn more leave? …

Employees, IRS challenge FedEx’s driver classifications

07/22/2008
Current and former FedEx Ground/Home Delivery drivers are eligible to join a class-action suit that challenges the company’s long-standing practice of classifying drivers as independent contractors. The suit—which more than 27,000 drivers could join—argues that they are employees …

Recoup training costs, but beware doing so with last paycheck

07/18/2008
Employers can and should get applicants and employees to agree to pay back training costs if they depart before the company gets fair value. But collecting the money can be tricky. You can’t, for example, withhold the money out of a final paycheck if that move takes the employee’s hourly wage below the minimum allowed by law …

Albertsons settles final-Paycheck lawsuit, will pay $15 million

07/18/2008
California employees of several supermarkets and drug stores will receive their share of a $15 million settlement in a class-action wage suit. Approximately 200,000 employees of Albertsons, Lucky Stores and Sav-On Drugs will each receive up to $350 if their employment ended between Sept. 29, 1996, and Dec. 31, 2004 …

Can the DOL contact our former employees?

07/17/2008
Q. We’re in the middle of a U.S. Department of Labor audit. Investigators are looking at payroll records for the past two years. Now they want the names, addresses, phone numbers and positions of all employees who left within the past two years. Do they have the right to this information? Can they go back two years? — D.G., Rhode Island …

How to regain wages paid after worker falsified timecards

07/08/2008
Q. We recently discovered that one of our employees has been falsifying her timecards. When we confronted her, she admitted it but said that she only began doing this recently. An internal investigation showed that this has been going on for several years. Over the past two years our company overpaid her at least $5,000 as a result of her fraud. She resigned. Her final paycheck, including wages and accrued paid time off, is $1,500. Can we refuse to pay her final paycheck and use that money to offset the $5,000 she owes us? How do we recover the remaining $3,500? …

Hand Out Paychecks in Most Efficient, Legally Safe Way

07/01/2008

Putting paychecks (or pay stubs) in employees’ hands is a basic HR chore: No glory, but it must be done right. What’s the best way to do it? HR specialists around the country chimed in on this topic. Here are some of their best ideas … 

Sweep of garment manufacturers nets labor law violations

07/01/2008
California’s Economic Employment Enforcement Coalition (EEEC) has issued 42 citations following a California Labor and Workforce Development Agency sweep of 22 garment manufacturers in Los Angeles and Orange counties. In addition to citations, the EEEC issued fines totaling $457,000 …

Beware hazards when calculating N.C. unemployment insurance tax

07/01/2008
Under the North Carolina unemployment insurance tax law, employers pay a quarterly tax based on a percentage of their payroll. Most newly liable or startup employers are assigned the standard beginning tax rate of 1.2%. Problems can arise when an employer is not truly a “startup” or when two employers combine by merger or other acquisition forms …