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Wages & Hours

Lights out means it’s lunch time in Seattle

09/01/2007

Lights out signals lunch time at the NRG::Seattle insurance company. Every day at 11:30 am, the lights go off and all employees must stop working. This one-hour break gives employees the chance to eat together and take a breather before the second half of the workday …

Instruct supervisors: No work before official hire date

09/01/2007

Make sure all supervisors who have direct contact with job applicants understand this simple rule: No new employee performs any work until HR approves the hiring and provides a start date. Otherwise the applicant’s time spent “working” may become the basis for a Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) claim. Then, it will be your word against the applicant’s as to how many hours he or she actually worked …

A&P Faces Huge Back-Pay Class-Action Suit

09/01/2007

Thousands of cashiers, clerks, bakers and other hourly employees received the go-ahead for a class-action suit against the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, the Food Emporium and Waldbaum’s, all part of parent company A&P, for unpaid overtime dating back to 1998 …

Are your employees headed for overtime? Maybe not

09/01/2007

A Federal Court of Appeals recently ruled that auto mechanics paid on a flat-rate system are exempt from the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The court found that the flat-rate system used in the auto repair industry is akin to a commission system for FLSA purposes. The case opens the door for some employers to restructure their pay system to avoid costly overtime …

Make sure independent contractor honors pay obligations

09/01/2007

If your business is seasonal, you may rely on an independent contractor to provide extra workers during crunch times. Whether it’s harvesting a crop, having the office cleaned or counting inventory, you must take steps to ensure your contractor pays his or her employees minimum wage and overtime …

Pharmaceutical reps hit Abbott with unpaid overtime suit

09/01/2007

A class of pharmaceutical sales representatives has filed suit against North Chicago-based Abbott Laboratories for unpaid overtime. The lawsuit claims that Abbott, like other drug makers, unlawfully classified pharmaceutical reps as salespeople. Salespeople are exempt from the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act …

No workers’ compensation when employee wouldn’t have been working anyway

09/01/2007

Employees injured at work are entitled to wage-loss payments while they recuperate. But they don’t get payments for the times when they wouldn’t normally have been earning wages …

Business travel and pay

09/01/2007

Q. We have asked one of our hourly (nonexempt) employees to attend a trade show in Las Vegas. He will be flying on Sunday and attending the trade show on Monday and Tuesday, and then returning Tuesday night on the “red eye.” Do we pay the employee for the hours he is traveling? What if he doesn’t come to work until 1 pm on Wednesday after flying all night? …

Labor Department audit may trigger huge lawsuit

09/01/2007

You may think that by cooperating with a U.S. Labor Department audit under Fair Labor Standards Act, you’ll avoid a lawsuit. Unfortunately, the fact is that the audit may be only the beginning of your troubles—even if you go ahead and pay everything the department says you owe …

Ink’s barely dry on minimum wage hike, but some in Washington want to go higher

09/01/2007

Congress this year pushed the federal minimum wage up to $5.85 per hour, with 70-cent jumps planned for the next two summers. But some lawmakers want to keep that mojo working. A group of Democrats, led by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., are proposing to push the federal minimum to $9.50 per hour starting in 2009 …