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Wages & Hours

Beware suspicious garnishment orders

08/27/2016
Payday lenders are increasingly sending aggressive garnishment orders to employers that mimic legitimate administrative orders from federal agencies.

Is it legal to dock nonexempts’ pay if they clock in late after breaks?

08/26/2016
Q. We give employees the choice of using two 10-minute breaks each day or combining them into one 20-minute lunch break. The employees are required to punch out and in for these breaks. Now, we have a policy that docks employees 15 minutes’ pay if they’re four or more minutes late returning from a break. Is this legal?

Beware extra deductions from tip credits

08/11/2016

Employers are allowed to pay tipped employees less than minimum wage and take a credit for the difference through their tips. With minimum wage set at $7.25, employers may pay $2.13 per hour as long as tips make up the difference (or more). But can the employer deduct from the credit costs associated with credit card processing and calculating, cashing out and distributing the money?

Democratic platform calls for higher minimum wage, expanded paid leave

08/10/2016
The Democratic Party’s 2016 platform, released July 21, calls for “supporting workers through higher wages … and other investments [to] help rebuild the middle class for the 21st century.”

Pay starts to increase as labor market tightens

08/08/2016
Some of the nation’s largest employers have quietly begun implementing a business strategy that has been all but forgotten since the Great Recession ended in 2009. They’re handing out raises.

Snapshot: What employers have done to prepare for the higher OT threshold

07/28/2016

Are you putting off plans for dealing with the new salary threshold?

Unequal pay is not always discrimination

07/27/2016
When an employee files a sex discrimination lawsuit alleging unequal pay for equal work, the employer merely needs to show that the reason for the discrepancy is something other than sex.

Think you can wait out DOL? Think again

07/22/2016
The owner of two Mountain View, CA, transportation companies—Stanford Yellow Taxi Cab and AAA Legacy Limousine—fought a years’-long legal battle against the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, arguing that his employees were independent contractors. The DOL wasn’t going to be the first party to blink.

Supreme Court refuses to hear challenge to home care rule

07/22/2016
The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear an industry challenge to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Home Care Final Rule. The decision lets stand a lower court ruling in Home Care Association of America, et al. v. Weil, allowing the rule to be implemented.

Supreme Court sends back service advisor case

07/22/2016
The U.S. Supreme Court has sent a case back to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals without deciding if automobile service advisors are exempt.