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Wages & Hours

Report blasts Austin’s construction safety record

08/04/2009

According to a critical report surveying the construction industry, 20% of Austin-area construction workers last year reported on-the-job injuries that required a trip to the doctor, and 20% of those employees said employers refused to pay their medical bills.

Lufkin ordered to pay $3 million in race bias suit

08/04/2009

A federal district court has ordered Lufkin Industries, the East Texas oilfield and industrial equipment manufacturer, to pay more than $3 million in back wages to a group of approximately 900 employees who claim they were victims of race discrimination.

How does the FLSA treat bonuses & overtime?

08/04/2009

Q. How do bonuses affect the overtime rate calculation under the Fair Labor Standards Act?

Lilly and Carlos: Questions and answers on the Ledbetter Act’s unintended consequences

08/04/2009

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was designed to ensure pay equity for women. It does a whole lot more than that! Learn how this landmark legislation affects all protected employee classes and could influence your employee benefits program.

State wage & hour inspector took $1.86 million in bribes

07/27/2009

Joseph Rivera, senior investigator for the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development’s Wage and Hour Division, pleaded guilty in a Camden courtroom to taking $1.86 million in bribes from temporary labor firms …

Recession playing havoc with FLSA exemptions

07/24/2009

Are your employees performing the exact same tasks they were three years—or even three months—ago? Probably not. Layoffs have left millions of employees juggling their own tasks as well as those of departed co-workers. One byproduct: When employees’ job duties no longer qualify them as exempt from the FLSA, they can raise the “hourly” flag and sue for unpaid overtime pay.

Summer scheduling: What changes do you make?

07/24/2009

If you notice that “summer stare” on employees’ faces as they gaze longingly out their office windows, it may be time for a morale-boosting seasonal schedule change. Here are some ideas working for the readers of the HR Specialist Forum:

Help! I’m confused about comp time, flextime

07/24/2009

Q. Can you please clarify if and when we can offer comp time to our employees? What’s the difference between comp time and flextime?

Can an employee earn sick time while out on workers’ comp?

07/24/2009

Q. One of our employees is out on workers’ comp. Our contract says “no sick time will be lost or deducted” while employees are out on workers’ comp. But now he wants to know if he continues to accrue sick time and holiday pay while not working. Does he?

Are we liable for wages we didn’t pay while employee was waiting for drug test results?

07/24/2009

Q. We suspected an employee was using drugs, so we sent him to be tested. We told him he couldn’t work until the test came back in two days. The results were negative. Do we owe him wages for those two days?