• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Payroll

Sharing pay data can violate antitrust laws

05/01/2002
Employees sued 14 major oil companies, claiming that the firms swapped employee salary information to hold down pay levels in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. A federal appeals court agreed, …

Don’t refuse to pay commission just because salesperson quits

04/01/2002
Timothy McCabe worked as a sales rep and was paid a salary plus commissions. He resigned after a year-and-a-half, but he didn’t collect some $32,000 in commissions owed him for sales …

Wage gap widens between men, women managers

04/01/2002
A new government report could spark more claims under the Equal Pay Act. It says that not only do women managers earn less than their male peers, but the wage gap …

‘Hybrid’ pay plan can kill exempt status

04/01/2002
A full-time home health care nurse in Cleveland was required to complete at least 25 patient visits per week, for which she was paid on a per-visit fee basis. She also …

Denying pay raise is ‘adverse employment action’

03/01/2002
Salome Fierros filed an internal complaint against her boss for assigning her duties that other lab technicians weren’t required to do. Soon after, Fierros claimed, the director retaliated by denying her …

More reason to avoid overtime violations: Steeper penalties

03/01/2002
The U.S. Labor Department has recently jacked up its penalties for violating minimum wage, overtime or child labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The 10 percent increase in fines …

Age-bias lawsuits: The costliest battles

03/01/2002
Getting slammed with a discrimination judgment is bad. And the worst are age discrimination cases. Reason: A new study from Jury Verdict Research shows that the median jury award in age-bias …

‘Working’ Supervisors and Exempt Status

03/01/2002

Q. We have an hourly worker who oversees both the maintenance and housekeeping departments and supervises two employees. In this job, he has the authority to hire and fire, but he also is a “working” supervisor who performs maintenance in and around the property. Can his status be changed to salary/ exempt? —T.W., Texas

Don’t Withhold Pay as Punishment

02/01/2002

Q. When an employee fails to clock in or out properly, our payroll department withholds that day’s pay until the next pay period as a form of employee discipline. My understanding is that an employer can’t hold back portions of pay as punishment. Am I right? —J.A., Georgia

FMLA AND HOLIDAY PAY, PART II

02/01/2002

In last month’s Business Talk column, a subscriber asked about holiday pay for workers taking leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Several of you asked us to elaborate …