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Wages & Hours

Can I make across-the-board pay deductions because one of my employees is stealing?

11/12/2015
Q. I believe at least one of my employees is stealing from the cash register, but I can’t prove which one. I’d like to deduct the register shortfalls from all of the employees. Can I force them to reimburse the company for the register shortfalls?

Partners paid hourly aren’t exempt for the UC system

11/03/2015

Ordinarily, owners of a business aren’t required to participate in the unemployment compensation system and don’t need to pay unemployment tax. Neither are they eligible for unemployment benefits if they lose their jobs. But that doesn’t mean it’s OK to simply create a partnership, have each “partner” contribute a token amount, and then treat them as employees.

Gear could have gone home? No pay to retrieve it

10/21/2015
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has nixed a firefighter’s claim that he should be paid for the time it takes to get to his station and retrieve his firefighting gear before reporting to a different station.

Irregular schedules become worker flashpoint

10/21/2015
The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division is looking at regulating schedule-setting in general for all employees across all industries.

Am I allowed to institute a tip pool?

10/05/2015
Q. I manage a popular sports bar. May I institute a tip-pooling policy?

Am I allowed to institute a tip pool?

09/21/2015
Q. Bartenders and servers at my bar make hundreds of dollars in tips each night while our hosts, bussers and managers walk away with much less. I instituted a pooling policy to correct the injustice, but now my bartenders and servers are threatening to sue for taking their tips. Are they right?

How should I handle meal breaks and downtime when we work on a split-shift basis?

09/21/2015
Q. I need my restaurant employees to work lunch and dinner shifts but not the two hours between when we are closed. Do I have to pay for the time they are on break between or does it qualify as a meal break?

California minimum wage bill stalls in legislature

09/21/2015
A controversial bill to increase California’s minimum wage recently failed to pass in the state Legislature. The bill would have phased in a $3 per hour increase to the minimum wage rate and also would have imposed annual cost of living increases.

Fed contractors can’t gag pay talk

09/15/2015
A new rule issued by the Department of Labor Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs explicitly gives employees of federal contractors and subcontractors the right to discuss how much they are paid.

What matches NYC’s new $15 minimum wage?

09/03/2015
To put it in perspective, the Pew Research Center calculated what it would cost to give employees in other cities the same purchasing power.