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Wages & Hours

More clarity on the partial-Day deduction rule

04/01/2007

Q. I have a question about deducting leave for salaried staff. I don’t understand how we can deduct from employees’ paid-leave bank when they are gone for an hour or two during the day, when we don’t pay them anything extra when they work 50 hours in a week. For example, if an employee works 10-hour days on a regular basis, is it OK to charge her vacation time when she leaves an hour or two early? — J.H., Minnesota

In handbook, spell out policies on promotions and pay

04/01/2007

When it comes to promotions and wage increases, it pays to spell out for employees exactly how the process works. That way, you’re less likely to lose a failure-to-promote case or a pay-discrimination suit. …

Automatic deductions for mealtime: Legal, but dangerous

04/01/2007

Take note if you automatically deduct meal periods from your hourly employees’ total hours worked: Although making that deduction isn’t technically illegal and doesn’t by itself violate the Fair Labor Standards Act, it’s a dangerous practice …

Johnnie Cochran’s law firm takes aim at poultry processors

04/01/2007

The Cochran Firm, founded by the late Johnnie Cochran of O.J. Simpson-defense fame, has set its sights on the poultry-processing industry, filing lawsuits for back wages and other workplace violations …

Florida’s climate is right for overtime lawsuits; build your defense

04/01/2007

That dedicated employee working through her lunch period, even though she’s clocked out, could be a Florida employer’s biggest future liability …

State law prohibits dipping into employees’ tip pool

04/01/2007

New York employers in the restaurant industry need to be vigilant. The state’s minimum wage law places tight restrictions on how you divvy up money collected in a tip pool …

How to Comply With Federal Teen-Labor Rules

03/15/2007
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Use the right words to silence pay-Related gripes

03/01/2007

How do employees at your organization feel about their compensation? If the answer is “Not good,” a bit of explanation from you or their supervisors can calm those troubled waters and help reduce turnover …

Communicate payroll-Card benefits to help trim turnover

03/01/2007

When employees are "unbanked"—i.e., they don’t have bank accounts into which your organization can deposit their wages—they’re more likely to quickly jump ship for another job. To serve the nation’s 56 million citizens who don’t have traditional bank accounts, more organizations are using payroll cards, which are being credited with reducing turnover as well …

Do help-Desk workers qualify for the computer exemption?

03/01/2007

While the Fair Labor Standards Act says certain computer professionals are exempt employees, be ultra-cautious about applying this exemption. Courts are littered with cases of employers being punished for wrongly applying exempt status to lower-level IT workers, such as help-desk staff (aka “IT support specialists”) …