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Wages & Hours

DOL makes Gainesville eatery pay more than just tips

07/12/2012
“Nopalera” is Spanish for a “patch of prickly cactus.” That’s exactly where the owners of a Gainesville restaurant called La Nopalera found themselves after the DOL discovered they weren’t paying wages to Hispanic employees, making them work for tips alone.

Adjust internal pay scales to end sex bias

07/12/2012
The Equal Pay Act (EPA) requires that men and women in the same workplace be given equal pay for substantially similar work. If you discover a pay disparity between substantially similar male and female employees, fix the problem right away to let women catch up. Don’t use pay policies as an excuse to slow the process.

Changing compensation systems? Here’s how to avoid age discrimination claims

07/12/2012
If you are contemplating changing your compensation structure to reflect today’s lean job market, do so carefully—especially if you suspect you may be overpaying some employees for the work they do. The problem: Older, more experienced workers may be at the top of your pay scales.

Shorten up your work hours for summer

07/12/2012
As temperatures soar and vacation season kicks into high gear, your organization can score significant points with employees by making short work of summer Fridays.

Paying nonexempt employees a salary? Be sure to get agreement on hourly rate

07/05/2012

Determining the amount of overtime pay depends on identifying an em­­ployee’s hourly rate for the first 40 hours. That can sometimes be more complicated than it sounds, especially for organizations that pay their hourly employees a set amount for their entire workweek, including overtime.

Supreme Court: Pharmaceutical reps exempt from FLSA OT rules

07/03/2012
The U.S. Supreme Court in June ruled that pharmaceutical sales representatives are indeed outside salespeople under the terms of the Fair Labor Standards Act in a case that could have far-reaching effects on other wage-and-hour issues.

Don’t sweat minor compensation differences

07/03/2012
Ever since enactment of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2009, pay equity has been a hot employment law topic. In the intervening years, many employers have proactively gone over their pay scales and made adjustments after discovering apparent pay inequalities that crept in over the years.

How should we pay for fluctuating workweek?

06/28/2012
Q. Our employees work irregular schedules. They may work for two weeks and then be off for three. Can we pay them every two weeks based on their average yearly income and, if they work more, pay them at an hourly rate?

What are the perils of inconsistent comp time?

06/28/2012
Q. Our employee manual doesn’t address compen­satory time off, but we have offered certain exempt managers an hour of comp time for every hour of overtime worked. Do we have to pay them for accrued comp time when we terminate them? In the past, we’ve paid comp time to some, but not to ­others. Can we negotiate our own terms with each employee?

How to respond to an order to garnish an employee’s wages

06/27/2012
Record numbers of bankruptcies and foreclosures have been making a big splash in the news for the past four years. However, a quieter phenomenon—one fraught with traps for unwary employers—is a concurrent and growing trend of court-ordered or government-issued wage garnishments.