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Wages & Hours

Retail bosses needn’t be present to win executive exemption

02/01/2007

In an important opinion letter issued recently, the U.S. Labor Department said store managers can retain their executive-exemption status (i.e., ineligible for overtime pay) even if they don’t physically supervise employees under their control on a regular basis …

‘Balanced hours’ program helps recruit, retain lawyers

02/01/2007

Law firms often eschew scheduling flexibility because their income is based on billable hours. But the loss of a few hours isn’t as expensive as recruiting new lawyers. That’s why law firm Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham introduced its Balanced Hours program, allowing its busy lawyers to telework and flex their schedules …

Smoking-Cessation benefits expand productivity

02/01/2007

How much does having a smoker on staff add to your costs? On average, smoking breaks and higher health costs related to smoking cost employers the equivalent of nine weeks’ lost productivity per year …

Deducting leave for partial-day absences

02/01/2007

Q. Recently, we audited our jobs and determined that some employees were classified as hourly when they should be exempt. We reclassified them. But now, I have a question about handling time off for our newly exempt employees. By law, are we required to NOT charge an exempt person’s time if they’re out of the office for a half day? And if we do start charging an exempt person’s time (vacation or personal) if they miss an hour or two, are we setting ourselves up to be sued?

Can we require salaried staff to make up lost time?

02/01/2007

Q. We’re a small company (fewer than 20 employees) and don’t keep time sheets. Our entire staff is salaried. We expect employees to make up personal time and sick time (neither of which affects their vacation time or holiday time). Are we wrong to expect that if a salaried employee takes two hours for a doctor’s appointment, he or she should make up that time later? —M.V., Florida

Deducting partial-day absence from leave bank is OK

02/01/2007

You may assume that employers must pay exempt employees their entire salary even if they arrive late and leave early. Well, that’s only partially true …

Employees may be eligible for workers’ comp if they’re injured in accident while on call

02/01/2007

Ordinarily, an employee who is injured while off duty isn’t eligible for workers’ compensation for those injuries. But a recent Georgia court ruling has expanded liability to protect at least some employees who are hurt while on call …

How to comply with Georgia’s child-labor laws

02/01/2007

Georgia has special child-labor laws that can trip you up if you’re not careful. With federal child-labor laws to consider as well, Georgia employers must navigate a tangled web of regulations when employing young workers …

Delegating Wage-Setting Discretion to Branches Won’t Justify a Class-Action Lawsuit

02/01/2007

Recently, clever lawyers toyed with a new tactic, hoping to turn individual discrimination cases into nationwide class-action monsters. They’d find a single unhappy employee and sue on behalf of all similarly situated employees in a company’s subsidiaries …

Watch for New Prevailing-Wage Rules for Building Services Workers

02/01/2007

The New Jersey Department of Labor & Workforce Development intends to enact new prevailing-wage rules for contractor employees or subcontractors who work on building services projects at properties owned or leased by the state …