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Wages & Hours

Court clears up confusion over meal breaks

05/13/2008
Do you have to provide employees who work eight hours or more during a shift with an unpaid meal break away from all job responsibilities? Or can you continue to pay employees while they eat, expecting them to take calls or respond to work needs? …

Workers’ lawsuit says hotel owners enslaved them

05/13/2008
Four Filipino immigrants have filed a federal lawsuit accusing a pair of Oacoma, S.D., hotel owners of subjecting them to conditions of slavery, forced labor, trafficking in persons and peonage—essentially indentured servitude …

Of MySpace & Money: Don’t try to muzzle millennials’ salary talk

05/13/2008

You’d never discuss how much money you make, right? Dude, that attitude is so 20th century! The 20-somethings you work with eagerly dish about salaries, bonuses and other work topics you might consider taboo. Managers tempted to forbid such talk? Don’t let them! Here’s why.

Effort to Extend Statute of Limitations on Pay-Bias Lawsuits Fails in Congress

05/12/2008
Federal anti-discrimination law gives employees either 180 or 300 days (depending on the state they live in) to file an employment discrimination claim with the EEOC. Pro-employee legislation that aimed to extend that limit much further failed in Congress this month.

Duty differences, experience enough to defeat equal pay claim

05/12/2008
The Equal Pay Act was passed to ensure that women are paid the same as men for substantially equal work. The law does allow for differences based on any factor “other than sex,” but you must be prepared to explain pay differentials in a way that clearly demonstrates why two employees in the same job receive different wages …

Here’s a tip: Know law on paying employees who work for tips

05/12/2008
Hundreds of thousands of Floridians rely on tips for part of their incomes. To stay on the right side of wage-and-hour laws, their employers need to understand the somewhat tricky interplay of tip income and the minimum wage …

Michigan ranks 47th in pay equity

05/09/2008
Michigan women on average earn 69.8 cents for every dollar earned by a man for equivalent work, well below most states, according to the Michigan Women’s Commission …

Enforce overtime approval policies—But pay for all hours worked

05/09/2008

Q. Our company policy requires an employee’s supervisor to approve all overtime. However it’s common for employees to work overtime that has not been approved; time they then record on their time sheets. Since the overtime was never approved, our management takes the position that it does not need to pay for this overtime. My understanding is that all hours worked must be paid. Which is correct? …

Staffing company owes $3 million to guest workers

05/07/2008
 The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has directed Advanced Professional Marketing Inc. (APMI), a medical staffing company based in New York City, to pay almost $3 million in back wages to more than 150 H-1B guest workers …

Chief judge takes New York to court over low pay

05/07/2008
Chief Judge Judith Kaye has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the state’s 1,250 judges claiming the political process has denied them their constitutional rights to an “adequate” salary. The reason: The New York Legislature hasn’t given them a raise in a decade …