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Payroll

New overtime rules facing delays

09/01/2003
Don’t expect the Labor Department’s proposal to revamp the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime provisions to take effect anytime soon. Labor received thousands of comments on the rules, proposed in March …

Paying for travel time: Know the rules of the road

09/01/2003
Issue: Paying nonexempt workers for travel time can be tricky, especially if it involves several work sites or overnight travel.
Risk: Thousands of dollars, or more, in back pay …

Pay for ‘donning, doffing’ time but not for time spent waiting

08/01/2003
As shown by a few recent high-profile court cases, employees should be paid for time spent at the workplace putting on and taking off required work clothes and equipment …

Pay for Prep Time if It’s ‘Integral’ to Job

08/01/2003

Q. We expect our bank tellers to be at their workstations and ready to open at 9:15 a.m. Should the tellers punch in before or after they go to the safe and get their money? —L.S., Michigan

When must you pay for employees’ ‘on-call’ time?

08/01/2003
Issue: Many employers trip over the issue of when to pay on-call workers.
Risk: One mistake can result in big damages, forcing you to pay several workers for years of …

State law dictates your payroll frequency

07/01/2003

Q. Is it legal to adopt a once-a-month payroll for hourly employees? What other issues come up with a monthly payroll? —J.S., California

Don’t dock exempt worker for partial-Day absence

07/01/2003

Q. If an exempt employee has no more paid leave left, can he take a couple hours off without pay? We’d just manually adjust his salary to reflect this. —A.D., Pennsylvania

It’s up to you to pay departing workers quickly

07/01/2003
Issue: Depending on which state you operate in, you have from one day to two weeks to issue final paychecks to employees who leave.
Risk: Penalties can be steep …

Keep salaries gender neutral; pay gap widens at top levels

06/01/2003
Heads up: Pay equity is in your hands; make sure salaries are always gender neutral. Reason: Women are less likely than men to reach the highest salary brackets, according to …

Who’s an ‘outside sales rep’? Confusion causes $17 million error

05/01/2003
Make sure you’re not shoehorning delivery workers into an “outside sales rep” category to avoid paying them overtime. To be considered exempt under the …