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Wages & Hours

Feds trim $106K in back pay from Midland landscaper

12/03/2012
Seventy current and former landscaping employees will rake in $106,818 following a U.S. Depart­­ment of Labor investigation of their Midland employer’s wage-and-hour practices.

Is there anything that prevents us from reducing our employees’ hours?

12/03/2012

Q. Can we change employees’ work hours on short notice by altering their schedules? Also, we have a part-time employee who’s been employed for a few months working 32 hours a week. She’s preparing to return to work after recovering from a car accident. Can we reduce her work hours?

Motel cleaned up at housekeepers’ expense

11/30/2012
Veer Investments—which ­operates an America’s Best Value Inn & Suites motel in Charlotte—careened wildly off course when it decided to ignore almost all the basic requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Overtime settlement puts dent in body shop’s profit

11/30/2012
Jacksonville-based Brynn Marr Body Shop has agreed to settle overtime complaints filed by 15 employees, following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division.

Keep your holiday pay & bonuses legal: 4 simple steps

11/30/2012
Don’t confuse Uncle Sam with Santa Claus. When it comes to violating pay laws around the holidays, the feds won’t be generous if your organization is on the naughty list. Here are four rules to make sure holiday pay complies with the FLSA and IRS rules.

New IRS ruling differentiates between tips, service charges

11/28/2012
Regardless of what you call it, tips are amounts customers willingly determine and leave of their own accord; service charges are added to the bill. According to a new IRS revenue ruling, service charges are immediately taxable as wages; tips are taxable when employees report them to you.

Should we be paying overtime to employee who receives after-hours phone calls?

11/16/2012

Q. One of our office managers regularly receives after-hours calls from our landlord about building management issues. Are we required to pay her overtime compensation for the resulting hours she works over eight in one day or over 40 in one week?

Courts: Truckers’ breaks covered by federal–not California–law

11/16/2012
In a significant decision for transportation companies operating in California, a federal district court judge recently dismissed several class-action claims brought by truck drivers who alleged meal and rest break violations under California law.

What break time rules do we need to follow?

11/15/2012

Q. We are changing our break policy. What breaks are required and can I require employees to take an unpaid meal break?

Do holidays require extra pay?

11/13/2012
Q. We need some of our employees to work during the holidays. Are we required to pay them extra for those days?