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Payroll

Performance-Based Pay Cuts: Legal, not advisable

08/01/2006

Q. We do yearly performance evaluations, during which we review whether employees have met the expectations we laid out during the previous review. If these expectations were not met, can we legally decrease the employee’s salary as punishment? —A.L., Iowa

Use payroll deduction to collect unpaid premiums

07/01/2006

Q. An employee went on FMLA leave, but we failed to specify the method in which he would pay his share of health insurance premiums. It’s now three months later, the employee has returned to work and he hasn’t paid a dime. We want to collect the premium. What can we do? —D.T., Texas

Weed out costly workers’ comp classification errors

06/01/2006

Insurers incorrectly calculate workers’ compensation premiums for 30 to 40 percent of employers. You can help slash premium costs, and become a hero to your CEO, by knowing what mistakes to look for …

A Costly Lesson in Allowing Off-the-Clock Work

06/01/2006

Make sure supervisors understand what counts as "paid time" and remind them that they should not encourage employees to work off the clock. Example of the risk: Compass Bank of Birmingham, Ala., recently shelled out more than $1 million in unpaid overtime to 2,961 employees …

Jobs Need to be ‘Substantially Equal,’ Not Identical, to Demand Same Pay

05/01/2006

Some employers wrongly believe that they’re not vulnerable to a federal Equal Pay Act claim when the two jobs in question aren’t identical. But female employees don’t need to meet such a high standard to bring their equal-pay claim to court …

EEO-1 compliance: Prepare to comply with the new EEO-1

05/01/2006

In an effort to monitor employment of minorities and females in the work force, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) requires certain employers to complete and file an Employer Information Report, commonly called an EEO-1 report, by Sept. 30 each year …

Clarify reasons for differences in employees’ pay

04/01/2006

When it comes to compensation systems, KISS is the rule. If you keep your pay system simple, you’re less likely to have to explain yourself in court, as the following case shows …

Small Employers: Introduce the ’15-Employee Threshold’ Defense Early

04/01/2006

The federal job anti-discrimination law (Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act) applies to employers with 15 or more employees. So, if you have fewer than 15 workers, you may think you’re automatically immune from such suits. Not so fast, says a new Supreme Court ruling …

Overtime court battles on the rise and expected to continue

04/01/2006

Rather than calming the turbulent legal waters, the revamping of the federal overtime laws in 2004 has churned up even more disputes and lawsuits …

Lesson of IBM overtime suit: Clarify exemption status

03/01/2006

IBM faces the possibility of multimillion-dollar legal damages if a court grants class-action status to a pending FLSA lawsuit …