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Wages & Hours

Arbitration covers claims for unpaid bonus and severance

07/01/2007

The California Court of Appeal recently ruled that binding arbitration mandated by an arbitration agreement could determine a former employee’s wage claims for an unpaid profit-sharing bonus and severance pay …

Employees Must File Discrimination Cases Within 180 Days

07/01/2007

Two recent court decisions—one by the U.S. Supreme Court and another by  a Georgia court—mean employers may soon see a spike in lawsuits brought by employees rushing to meet a 180-day deadline for filing discrimination claims.

Altering employee time sheets can mean personal liability

07/01/2007

If you are responsible for approving time sheets or signing off on any alterations of the reported hours worked by employees, be warned. It’s not just your organization that risks a big fine and costly litigation.

Your personal assets are also at risk …

Paying exempt employees for travel time

07/01/2007

Q. We sometimes send exempt employees to conferences. Do we have to pay for travel time? Can we voluntarily pay them extra if the travel time extends into the evening or weekend, or will that destroy their exempt status?

Overtime for drive to remote worksite?

07/01/2007

Q. We required three hourly employees to drive 15 hours to an out-of-state warehouse to do finishing work and only paid them for eight hours of straight time. They worked a 40 hour week, made the drive on a Saturday, worked in the warehouse Sunday through Wednesday, then made the 15-hour return drive on Thursday and reported to work on Friday. Someone at the Labor Department told me that since the drive extended past their regular workday, we were required to pay for 15 hours, and it probably should have been overtime. Is that correct?

Employees must file discrimination cases within 180 days

07/01/2007

The U.S. Supreme Court handed employers a major victory in a new 5-4 ruling. No longer will you have to worry that an employment decision you made years — even decades — earlier will come back to haunt you …

Gone but not forgetting: Illegals sue for back wages

07/01/2007

Illegal immigrants working for Rosenbaum-Cunningham International (RCI), a janitorial contractor based in Palm Beach, FL, have filed a federal lawsuit seeking back wages for work they did in restaurants in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and other cities …

Sound policy triggers suit anyway

07/01/2007

The Pocono Medical Center in East Stroudsburg was following a special “8 and 80” pay plan permitted for health care providers under Section 7j of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) when it was slapped with an overtime lawsuit anyway …

Use discipline instead of docking pay

07/01/2007

Q. Can I dock an employee’s pay for failing to meet a production quota?

NJ Supreme Court OKs huge off-The-Clock class-Action suit

07/01/2007

In a decision sure to create additional litigation troubles for New Jersey employers, the New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled that Wal-Mart must defend itself against a huge class-action lawsuit involving so-called off-the-clock pay violations …