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FLSA

Navigating Pennsylvania’s new minimum wage law

12/01/2006

For many Pennsylvania employers, the state’s new minimum wage law taking effect Jan. 1, 2007, is straightforward: It raises the minimum wage they must pay employees to $6.25 per hour from the current federally mandated rate of $5.15. The law, however, has numerous loopholes that you need to know about …

How to pay hourly workers for weekend travel time

12/01/2006

Q. How do you pay hourly employees who are traveling on a day that’s not considered a workday, like Saturday or Sunday? What if they normally have a 10-minute commute to the office but instead they have to go to the airport, and the airport is an hour from their home?

Florida minimum wage to rise to $6.67 at start of year

11/01/2006

This coming holiday season, the state of Florida has a gift planned for workers. Effective Jan. 1, 2007, the Florida minimum wage is set to increase in accordance with the state constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2004 …

Mortgage brokers sued for overtime, FLSA violations

11/01/2006

The U.S. Labor Department sued Alliance Mortgage Group and Credit Financial Services for allegedly owing more than $239,000 in back pay to about 200 loan officers it misclassified as exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act …

Prepare to pay overtime to some delivery drivers

11/01/2006

You can no longer rely on the "motor carrier exemption" in the Fair Labor Standards Act to avoid paying overtime to delivery drivers who use vans and pickup trucks on their routes …

Requiring work during breaks: a $78 million mistake

11/01/2006

A Pennsylvania jury last month awarded a group of present and former Wal-Mart employees $78 million in damages because the mega-retailer forced the employees to work without pay …

Car pooling isn’t paid time unless employer requires it

11/01/2006

Employees’ typical home-to-work commutes are not compensable time, and that doesn’t change just because employees meet up at a designated place and take a car pool or van pool to work …

Minimum wage plays big role in state elections

11/01/2006

This month’s elections may see more states adopt minimum-wage increases as they tire of waiting for Congressional action. After the ballots are counted, more than half of the states could be sitting on minimum-wage levels above the federal $5.15 per-hour threshold …

NLRB ruling spells end of union eligibility for millions

11/01/2006

In recent years, unions have pushed to organize well-compensated professionals. In response, employers have argued that those professionals form part of the management team and, therefore, are not eligible for union representation. Last month, the employers’ view won out …

Tracking time off for salaried employees

11/01/2006

Q. If a company tracks employees’ vacation, sick and personal time off, can we make deductions from accumulated time for everyone who takes time off, including salaried employees? I’m talking about deducting it from the accrual, not the pay. I’ve heard that I can’t deduct vacation, sick leave or personal time if the salaried employee worked at least four hours during that day. —S.W., Florida