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Payroll

How to pay employees for fluctuating workweeks

02/01/2002

Q. Our workers have irregular schedules. They may work for two weeks and then be off for three. They typically earn $60,000 to $70,000. Can we pay them every two weeks based on their average yearly income and, if they work more, pay them at an hourly rate? —D.D., Louisiana

Paycheck problems: Know limits on deductions, promptness of pay

12/01/2001
Two mistakes with Trina Richardson’s final paycheck cost her employer, an Oregon credit union, more than the check itself. Here’s where the company went wrong: Improper deduction. The credit union …

Each paycheck can equal a discriminatory act

12/01/2001
After six years on the job, Gerard Cardenas quit and sued his company, alleging that he was paid less because he is a Mexican American. A lower court tossed out his …

Egg on their faces: Mistakes in paying cooks cost $2.8 million

11/01/2001
Employers who misclassify workers as exempt continue to be hit with big-dollar court awards. In a recent decision, a federal court ordered owners of more than 100 Waffle House restaurants …

Lack of time records voids exemption argument

10/01/2001
No matter how long it took Tracy Klinedinst to paint a car, he was paid based on a standard industry estimate used by auto repair shops and insurance adjusters. While his …

Beware of sick leave policies that allow pay reduction of exempt

10/01/2001
To protect employee exemptions from overtime, make sure your sick leave policy defines which classifications would not be subject to pay deductions. In 1997, the U.S. Supreme Court said employees …

Keep staff on site, but off clock, during meals

09/01/2001
Corrections officers in Pima County, Ariz., couldn’t run out to Burger King at lunch. During their half-hour lunch break, they were relieved of their duties but still had to stay on …

Overtime: Pay it now or pay it after a lawsuit

09/01/2001
Before you pile extra work on employees without paying overtime, make sure you’ve correctly classified your workers. A California jury recently ordered Farmers Insurance Exchange to pay overtime to 2,400 …

Timecard Adjustments OK

09/01/2001

Q. Our employees punch a time clock and then go to job sites. Sometimes they don’t take a lunch break. But when they do, they’re unable to clock out and back in, so there’s no time record. Can a manager adjust the timecard by marking through the daily total and deducting the lunch time? –A.P., Virginia

Partial-week suspensions can strip workers’ exempt status

08/01/2001
Los Angeles and its Department of Water and Power occasionally suspended salaried employees without pay, and now it may have to pony up overtime for groups of employees. The …