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Wages & Hours

Kansas Employers Take Note: New K-4 Withholding Form Required

03/24/2008
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Equal Pay for Older Workers

03/09/2008

HR Law 101: When designing compensation plans, employers should take into consideration whether the pay schedules have a negative impact on older workers. Several pay discrimination cases have reached the Supreme Court in recent years …

Travel time and the FLSA: When must you pay?

03/04/2008
To pay or not to pay for travel time? That question has baffled many an employer. Here’s a concise explanation of how you should handle three different travel scenarios—plus Fair Labor Standards Act definitions of “hours worked.”

Time records crucial in FMLA eligibility calculation

03/01/2008

As a practical matter, the FMLA requires employers to carefully keep track of all hours each employee works. If the employer’s time records don’t include all time worked, it is up to the employer to prove to the court that the employee didn’t work enough hours to qualify for FMLA leave. With poor records, that may be hard to do …

Paying back ‘Borrowed’ vacation leave

03/01/2008

Q. We allow our employees to “borrow” unearned vacation time. Our policy provides that if employees quit or are terminated with a “negative” vacation balance, the amount that they owe us for the vacation time taken before it was earned will be deducted from their final pay. Can we do this? …

Fluctuating workweek

03/01/2008

Q. My work hours fluctuate a lot depending upon the flow of work. To help manage its cash flow, my employer asked me to sign an agreement where I would receive a set salary each workweek regardless of the number of hours I work. In weeks where I work more than 40 hours, I am paid half-time for overtime hours, instead of time and a half. Can my employer do this? My position is nonexempt …

Think beyond scheduling when adding flexibility

03/01/2008

When many business people and HR pros think of offering employees flexibility in balancing work and life issues, they think in terms of providing scheduling options. But in small businesses, that’s often a deal breaker. Instead, think of flexibility as a broad strategy for business success …

Workplace flexibility: no longer one-Size-Fits-All

03/01/2008

A flexible workplace is flexible in its flexibility. Flextime and flex-place are no longer accommodations for working mothers alone. They are part of a business strategy that helps keep employees productive …

Trucking firm considers family before posting schedules

03/01/2008

At Green Bay, WI-based Schneider National, truck drivers can enter events such as a child’s birthday into the transportation firm’s electronic scheduler so supervisors won’t schedule them to be out of town on the big day. The organization pairs the scheduling tool with other work/life perks …

Seattle firm accepts jobs only if its own employees are available

03/01/2008

When Tim Jenkins and two friends started professional services firm Point B in 1995, they aimed to offer their employees an escape from the 100-hour workweeks and extended business travel that typically accompany high-powered consulting jobs …