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Wages & Hours

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.

Can we require an exempt employee to use vacation time to coach his son’s sports team?

11/02/2009

Q. One of our supervisors wants to coach his son’s basketball team and has asked to leave work an hour early twice a week. We told him we do not have a problem with leaving early, but that he would have to use vacation time to cover the time lost. He refuses to do that and says we cannot dock his pay for the two hours because he is a salaried supervisor. Is that right?

Must you pay for the commute? Sometimes, yes

10/28/2009

Q. One of our nonexempt employees is now working at a different location on Thursdays. This is a temporary assignment with no end date. It normally takes her 10 minutes to drive to work. But now she has to drive 90 minutes. Should she be paid for 1 hour and 20 minutes of travel time (subtracting her 10-minute normal commute)?

Beware ‘front pay’ trap when job-seekers sue

10/27/2009

Employees you don’t hire can’t cause too much legal trouble, right? Wrong! In today’s tough economy, frustrated job-seekers are more likely than ever to sue. And if they sue for discrimination and win, courts are increasingly likely to award both back pay and lost future earnings …

More than 5,000 have used N.J. state paid family leave

10/27/2009

New Jersey is one of two states in the nation that offers paid family leave to workers. According to Gov. Jon Corzine’s office, the number of workers using the program passed 5,000 in September—not bad for a program that started July 1.

Guess again: You can’t avoid liability by ignoring pay discrimination complaints

10/27/2009

The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed an earlier decision made just months ago and ruled that when a woman asks for a raise to equal her male counterpart’s pay, ignoring the request is the same as denying the request. The employee may then file a Title VII pay discrimination claim …