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California

9th Circuit: Pharma reps are salespeople

03/22/2011
Typically, federal courts tend to uphold the U.S. Department of Labor’s interpretations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. But now the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected the DOL’s interpretation of what it means to be an outside salesperson under the FLSA.

Firing hourly worker? Starbucks’ big win shows how to handle wage statements and pay

03/22/2011
Terminating an employee is never easy. But thanks to a recent California Court of Appeal decision, at least you don’t have to worry about wage statement violations—if you follow the common sense guidelines the court announced.

Warn supervisors: Never suggest retirement

03/22/2011
Many employees who might otherwise have considered retiring have decided to keep working for the foreseeable future. These employees may feel threatened if they are passed over for promotions. By itself, that probably isn’t enough to make them contemplate a lawsuit. But add a supervisor’s ill-timed suggestion that the employee should retire, and you may end up facing an age discrimination lawsuit.

Supreme Court: Check boss bias before disciplining

03/08/2011
The Supreme Court’s latest unanimous employment-law opinion found that two biased supervisors conspired to get HR to fire someone. The lesson is clear: HR must independently check supervisors’ disciplinary recommendations to ensure they have no ulterior motives.

$1 million more in OT for Fort Irwin contractors

02/24/2011
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How do we decide whether we need to pay for responding to off-duty phone calls?

02/23/2011
Q. We would like to require employees in one of our departments to promptly answer their company-provided cell phones even when they are away from work. If we impose this rule, do we have to pay these employees around the clock?

Should we pay for training time?

02/23/2011
Q. Occasionally, we offer in-house training and development programs for our employees. The training is strictly voluntary and isn’t conducted during normal working hours. Our company has never paid employees for the time spent attending such training. Is that legal?

9th Circuit tackles harassment, retaliation against gay workers

02/23/2011
A recent 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision highlights unexpected problems employers can face when gay employees are harassed because of their sexual orientation. The case—Dawson v. Entek International—illustrates what can go wrong when harassment occurs, HR is slow to respond and retaliation is alleged.

Health care workers at five hospitals ratify new contract

02/23/2011
More than 2,700 staffers at five hospitals run by Hospital Corporation of America will get pay raises following ratification of a new contract by members of the United Healthcare Workers-West (UHW) union.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Raises for Chronicle workers!

02/23/2011
Increases of any kind are rare in the newspaper business these days. Thus, it was big news late last year when the San Francisco Chronicle and the California Media Workers Guild agreed to a two-year contract that increased wages for some employees as much as 5% and added benefits, too.