• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Wages & Hours

When must you pay people for working while on break?

01/01/2004
Issue: Court ruling adds uncertainty to when you must pay hourly employees for work performed on their breaks. Risk: Liability for back and overtime pay. Action: Urge managers to …

6 ways to determine if you should pay ‘volunteers’

01/01/2004
Issue: More for-profit organizations are using “volunteers” to help in their normal course of business, and they’re taking a legal gamble. Risk: Back pay and FLSA claims. Action: Use …

Don’t try to ‘explain away’ overtime errors

12/01/2003
Counsel your managers to treat overtime complaints with respect, and avoid any cavalier statements or excuses about why someone hasn’t been paid overtime. Reason: You face big risks by making such …

Don’t mandate direct deposit of employees’ pay

12/01/2003
Issue: Some state rules seem to clash with federal rules over whether you can require employees to accept pay via direct deposit.
Risk: By following your state law, in some …

Be careful how you answer pleas for overtime pay

12/01/2003
Issue: If you’re sued for unpaid overtime pay, your damages can mount quickly if the court sees a “willful” violation. Risk: The FLSA enables courts to award employees up to …

You can’t make employees contribute to charity

12/01/2003

Q. Is it legal for us to strongly encourage our employees to have money withheld from their paychecks to support a charity drive, like the United Way? —L.M., Texas

Schools aren’t exempt from wage-and-Hour laws

12/01/2003

Q. At our university, the special-events supervisors must occasionally hire people. We currently don’t pay for their time involved in interviewing job candidates. I think we should pay them for that time, but I was told education institutions are exempt from pay laws. Is that true? —D.D., West Virginia

Employees comparing pay? Don’t try to muzzle them

12/01/2003
Issue: About a third of all organizations prohibit employees from discussing pay with one another. Risk: Such confidentiality policies likely violate …

Gender gap closing a bit, but equal-pay claims still rise

11/01/2003
Reminder to employers: You may have heard that the gender pay gap is closing somewhat. But don’t slack off in your efforts to comply with the Equal Pay Act.
The …

Make Sure ‘Manual Punch’ Counts Correct Hours

11/01/2003

Q. We use a timecard punch-in/punch-out system. If an employee forgets to punch in, and we manually do it, do any labor laws apply? —B.B., New York