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Payroll

Buying Savings Bonds via payroll deduction is now easier

12/01/2004
Under new Treasury Department rules, it’s now easier for em-ployees to buy U.S. Savings Bonds through payroll deduction. Employees can arrange for a specific amount from their paychecks to be placed …

The new OT rules: You’ve got questions; we’ve got answers

11/01/2004
If you’re like most HR professionals, you’ve been scrambling in recent months to pull your organization in line with the Labor Department’s new rules defining …

No Need to Pay Employee for Home-to-Seminar Drive

10/01/2004

Q. In determining when to pay for travel time, what if an employee drives his own car to a seminar that’s two hours away? Should he get paid for his driving time to and from the seminar, even if he leaves from home and drives straight home afterward? —R.M., North Carolina

Calculating paid ‘On-Call’ time an art, not science

10/01/2004

Q. We have a maintenance employee who we will soon put “on call” for various shifts (occasionally at night) to fix equipment. How should we handle his on-call pay? —E.P., Rhode Island

Include cash rewards in employees’ taxable income

09/01/2004

Q. When we win contracts, we recognize employees with cash awards. But these awards may be given to only the select few employees involved. Is this legally OK? —G.J., Alabama

Courts Differ on Half-Day Deduction Rules

08/01/2004

Q. You’ve said that a company can’t deduct a half-day for an exempt employee who has used all her sick and vacation time; it must be in full-day increments. But what if the employee hasn’t used all her banked sick and vacation time? Could an employer require the employee to use that instead? —S.V., North Carolina

Exemption Class Doesn’t Matter for Part-Timer

08/01/2004

Q. Does the new salary threshold of $455 a week (under which employees are automatically eligible for overtime) hold true even if the person works part time, say one or two days a week? We have employees who meet the professional exemption, but they work part time and wouldn’t reach the $455 threshold. —L.S., Pennsylvania

Rethink exemption status of traveling sales rep

07/01/2004

Q. We employ sales and service reps who travel and service stores around the country. They work from their home offices, use their own cars and communicate with us via phone. We classify them as exempt. Is this correct? (Most reps are required to spend at least eight hours at each location. Some drive three hours or longer to get to each store. We encourage overnight stays under these circumstances.) —L.C., Oklahoma

Don’t pay for rest breaks beyond 20 minutes

07/01/2004

Q. Is it mandatory for a nonexempt employee to take at least a 20-minute meal break after working a certain number of hours? —M.M., Illinois

Choose bonus pay method and stick with it

07/01/2004

Q. Our company pays monthly bonuses to hourly employees based on the previous month’s performance. When calculating overtime, should the bonus pay be included only for the weekly payroll that contains those bonuses, or does it change the overtime rate for other weekly pay periods, as well? —A.A., Tennessee