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Wages & Hours

California Supreme Court rules on pay for on-call and sleep time

02/24/2015
The California Supreme Court has held that the on-call hours for security guards who work 24-hour shifts constituted compensable hours worked. The court also ruled that the guards’ employer could not exclude “sleep time” from the guards’ 24-hour shifts.

Federal judge strikes raises for home health workers

02/24/2015
One of President Obama’s attempts to stimulate the economy has been nixed by a federal court.

New California law requires pay for rest or recovery periods

02/24/2015
SB 1360, passed late in 2014, requires employers to pay employees for recovery periods taken during hot weather.

Good intentions don’t matter: You’ll pay if you compensate men and women differently

02/18/2015
Employers that don’t pay men and women the same for substantially identical work violate the Equal Pay Act (EPA). The employer’s intent doesn’t matter. What matters is that the pay is unequal. The EPA is a strict liability statute, as one of the world’s most gender-equitable nations learned when it was sued in Minnesota.

Worker underreports hours? You still owe OT

02/11/2015
Do you have clear policies stating that employees can’t work off the clock, must record all hours worked and must report to HR any supervisor who demands early clock-outs? Good! However, that doesn’t mean you’re immune to a wage-and-hour lawsuit.

Be sure you can justify reason why promoted worker didn’t get raise

02/09/2015

Most employees who are promoted see that as a vote of confidence and assume their new responsibilities will include more money or other tangible benefits. But what if you don’t want to raise pay?

Is it time to prepare to pay higher wages?

02/05/2015
American businesses are benefiting from lower energy costs and rising sales, a fact not lost on unions and employees. Signs that employees expect a bigger piece of the pie abound everywhere, from your local McDonald’s restaurant (the symbolic focus of efforts to raise the minimum wage) to the airline industry.

Can we discipline an ‘early clocker?’

02/02/2015
Q. One of our part-time employees has been warned repeatedly about clocking in earlier than she’s supposed to, sometimes more than an hour early. We know that we have to pay her for any hours worked, but what can we legally do to get her to work only the hours set for her position? Also, can we reprimand a co-worker that has been clocking in for her?

Harrisburg, Pa. exotic dancers win class-action status

02/02/2015
A federal judge has granted exotic dancers at a Harrisburg-area adult entertainment club class-action status in their wage-and-hour lawsuit against their employer.

Converting employees into contractors? Prepare for expensive, protracted litigation

02/02/2015
Here’s a warning for employers thinking about turning employees into independent contractors to avoid paying benefits and payroll taxes: If some of the employees challenge the decision, you may be in for years of expensive, time-consuming litigation. That can easily turn a penny-pinching strategy into a money pit.