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Wages & Hours

Federal minimum wage jumps to $5.85 per hour on July 24

05/25/2007
Congress voted to increase the federal minimum wage from the current $5.15 per hour to $7.25 per hour in a three-step process. The federal minimum will jump 70-cents per hour in July 2007, July 2008 and July 2009.

Get Well-Versed in Overtime or Face Bad-Faith Damages

05/01/2007

Ignorance of the law is no excuse when it comes to deciding who’s exempt from overtime and who gets paid hourly …

Exempt or not? Track employees’ hours either way

05/01/2007

Figuring out who should be classified as exempt or hourly is undoubtedly one of the hardest parts of an HR professional’s job. Get it wrong, and your organization may owe thousands in back pay and penalties …

Cutting an employee’s pay is perfectly legal, but first review his potential for a bias lawsuit

05/01/2007

Employers can cut an employee’s compensation at any time for any nondiscriminatory reason, as long as the person isn’t covered by a union contract or other agreement …

Misclassify an employee, chances are you’ll pay double

05/01/2007

The Fair Labor Standards Act is an unforgiving master—you’ll pay if you misclassify an employee without solid, good-faith reasons. Hourly employees that you incorrectly designate as exempt will collect more than time-and-a-half for the overtime they worked …

Compassion of ‘Donated Leave’ Comes With Caveats

05/01/2007

When a health crisis drains an employee’s regular allotment of paid time off, some companies allow other employees to donate their own leave to help out. Here are some suggestions for making it work, as well as a few caveats …

New study turns up heat on child labor compliance

05/01/2007

Many teenagers operate hazardous equipment at work and fail to receive appropriate safety training, according to a new study by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health …

‘Uniform’ can be an expensive word for employers

05/01/2007

Be careful what you refer to as an employee “uniform” in your employee handbook and policies. The wrong use of the word could be costly …

Use discipline to enforce your no-Overtime policy

05/01/2007

Q.  We temporarily allowed an hourly employee to come in early and take work home at night. We paid her for overtime on both ends. But now we’ve promoted someone else and told the hourly worker to stop coming in early and taking work home. She said she prefers working early and still does (plus she skips lunch) but reports for just 40 hours. Is she setting us up?—L.B., New York

Complying with the no-Docking rules

05/01/2007

Q. We are a small company with fewer than 20 employees. While I understand the issue of paying exempt employees full salary and docking from the PTO banks when they’re absent, is there someplace that I can go to get an example of a company policy to support a 40-hour-per-week effort from each employee?—E.R., Virginia