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Wages & Hours

Outsourcing payroll? Be sure someone can explain the math

11/20/2009

These days, with employers having to do more with less, lots of companies outsource some functions that take a lot of time. If a vendor handles your payroll, make sure someone on the inside understands exactly how the outside provider calculates tricky things like overtime pay.

No inflation = no min. wage hikes; Colorado’s falls

11/16/2009

Ten states tie increases in the minimum wages to the inflation rate: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont and Washington. Since the cost of living has actually declined this year, none of those states will see an increase in their minimum wages.

8 ways to cut costs with strategic work/life & flex benefits

11/12/2009

Although businesses typically view flextime, compressed workweeks and part-time schedules as recruitment and retention strategies, just 6% of employers have ditched those practices, even as they cut staffs. Here are eight ways your organization can make strategic use of work/life benefits to cut costs, save jobs and pump up employee morale during the recession.

Women are keeping jobs, but still losing on pay and benefits

11/12/2009

If the Great Recession has an upside, it’s that women have experienced far less job loss than in previous downturns. Yet dark clouds could obscure the silver lining. According to a new report, women still earn just 77 cents on the dollar compared to men, and their jobs often come with paltry benefits.

Beware employee costs that bring wages below minimum

11/11/2009

Beware breaking wage-and-hour laws if you employ drivers who cover expenses for the vehicles they use to make deliveries. If your hourly rate minus those expenses yields a figure lower than the minimum wage, you may be violating the Fair Labor Standards Act.

New law: N.Y. employers must spell out pay for new hires

11/09/2009

An amendment to Section 195(1) of the New York Labor Law now requires New York employers to give new employees written notification of their regular and overtime rates of pay and their regular payday.

Be ready to explain male/female pay disparity—dating back to the time salaries began to diverge

11/09/2009

Since Congress passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, employers have again been in the position of having to defend paying men and women differently—and sometimes that means going back many years, to the time when pay scales began to diverge. If you can’t show a court that the decision you made years ago was legal under the Equal Pay Act, the employee may win.

What wage-and-hour records must we track?

11/09/2009

Q. What are my responsibilities as an employer for maintaining employees’ wage records?

What counts as a true meal break?

11/04/2009

Q. Sometimes we hold important meetings at lunch and provide food. An employee then takes her lunch hour after. Can we tell her she can’t do that?

Check your pay rates! Obvious male/female disparity is probably ‘willful’ discrimination

11/02/2009

The Equal Pay Act (EPA) makes it illegal to base unequal pay on gender. Employees have up to three years to sue after the last allegedly discriminatory paycheck if their employer’s violation was “willful,” and two years if it was not. Unfortunately, any obvious wage disparity is probably willful.