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

Wages & Hours

Does the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act protect employees other than women?

06/12/2009

Q. Carlos, a longtime Latino employee, frequently complains that he is paid less than his white, non-Latino counterparts. He blames this pay discrepancy on a previous supervisor who allegedly denied him several promotions in the late 1990s because of his national origin. I have heard about the Lilly Ledbetter Act. Could it affect us in this case?

Make sure employees don’t work on breaks; burden’s on them to prove they did

06/11/2009

Here’s a bit of good news for employers trying to make sure they don’t violate the Fair Labor Standards Act: The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that employees—not employers—have the initial burden of showing they actually worked during unpaid lunch or other break periods.

Union pact overlaps with state law? Grievance comes first

06/11/2009

Are you a union employer with a collective-bargaining agreement that touches on labor issues also covered by the Minnesota Fair Labor Standards Act (MFLSA)? Then employees can’t go directly to court without first pursuing a union grievance.

Reduced hours and WARN: Are we liable?

06/11/2009

Q. Due to the poor economy, we recently cut one of our manufacturing shift’s hours by 60%. This will continue indefinitely. We gave the affected employees two weeks’ advance notice, but we have now received a letter from an attorney claiming we should have given them 60 days’ advance notice. Is that right?

5 strategies for managing teleworkers

06/09/2009

More than 33 million Americans now work remotely at least one day per month, according to the “Telework Trendlines 2009” survey report. Still, most managers have been trained to work with employees who are only physically present to them. How can you manage what you can’t see? Here are some tips for bosses who manage teleworkers:

Arbitrate FLSA claims? One court says yes

06/08/2009

Many employers place arbitration clauses in their employment applications or handbooks. The idea is that forcing employees to arbitrate workplace disputes will be quicker and easier than going to federal court. A recent federal court decision by a Florida-based judge has upheld the right to take even FLSA complaints over wage-and-hour law to arbitration.

Retain notes on salary negotiations to protect against pay discrimination claims

06/08/2009

We all understand that in a free-market system, it sometimes takes extra money to induce an applicant to leave one job for another. That’s all part of the hiring dance. But sometimes the end result is that an existing employee ends up earning less than a new employee who holds the same or a similar job and may sue for discrimination.

Supreme Court decides Hulteen pregnancy discrimination case

06/08/2009

Claims of pregnancy discrimination have gained attention again with the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in AT&T Corp. v. Hulteen. In light of the decision, now is the time to conduct an audit of your practices, policies and plans to make sure they comply with the  Pregnancy Discrimination Act ’s requirements.

Labor Department seeks more funds to boost enforcement

06/08/2009

U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis’ budget request to Congress includes funds to hire nearly 1,000 new employees, 670 of whom will be investigators. The plan calls for 200 more wage-and-hour Labor investigators and 160 additional OSHA gumshoes.

Control costs with furlough strategy that’s flexible, fair

06/05/2009

If your organization is limping through the economic downturn, you’ve no doubt considered cutting down your labor burden to save money. Before you resort to radical surgery—in the form of layoffs—consider a more benign cure that increases the odds of a full recovery. Furloughs—requiring staff to take unpaid time off—can reduce payroll costs without inflicting long-term damage.