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Wages & Hours

Good news: Courts more willing to throw out class actions for break violations

10/20/2008

Talk about expensive propositions: A simple lawsuit brought by one or two employees with a gripe can blow up big time if they try to sue on behalf of every other employee who may have been harmed by the same alleged wrong. Fortunately, some judges are clamping down on class actions, reserving them for rare cases.

Temp agencies don’t have to cut check immediately after each assignment

10/20/2008

Some temp employees have tried to argue that they should be paid immediately for their work as soon as they finish a particular assignment—and not have to wait until the next regular payday. They’ve claimed that when each assignment ends, they are in effect being “discharged.” Now a federal trial court has clarified that the end of an assignment isn’t a “discharge.”

Wage-and-hour woes continue to plague Silicon Valley

10/20/2008

Cadence Design Systems of San Jose recently agreed to settle two lawsuits brought by information technology workers who claimed they were misclassified and denied overtime and meal and rest breaks in violation of federal and California laws …

Confidentiality provision may violate federal labor law

10/20/2008

A temporary employment agency violated federal labor law by including a confidentiality provision in an employment contract, according to a recent NLRB ruling (Northeastern Land Services, Ltd. dba The NLS Group and Jamison John Dupuy, 352 NLRB No. 89, 2008). In the case, the agency fired a worker for violating the confidentiality provision …

Must we pay for tryout time?

10/20/2008

Q. I recently heard the phrase “tryout time” and wondered what this phrase meant and how it may be applicable to my workplace …

What do we do now that our employees have voted for an alternative workweek?

10/20/2008

Q. Our employees recently voted to establish a 4-10 workweek—four workdays a week, 10 hours per day. Are we required to submit the election results to the state? …

What are the rules for handling ‘seventh day’ overtime pay?

10/20/2008

Q. One of my employees worked four 10-hour days this week. His last day of work fell on Sunday, the seventh day of our workweek. We do not currently have an alternative work schedule arrangement. Do we have any overtime obligations to this employee? …

Justify why similar work warrants different pay

10/20/2008

If some of your employees perform similar jobs under different pay structures, make sure you can justify the differences with good, solid reasons that will stand up to a side-by-side comparison. Otherwise, one of your lower-paid workers may sue you for discrimination.

Federal contractors: Heed the government’s new test for pay discrimination

10/17/2008

If your organization benefits from federal contractors, familiarize yourself with the new “tipping point test” of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) …

The HR I.Q. Test: November ’08

10/17/2008

Test your knowledge of recent trends in employment law, comp & benefits and other HR issues with our monthly mini-quiz …