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Paid FMLA leave: Coming to a state near you?

11/01/2002
California’s recent passage of a paid family leave bill for workers may be the first in the nation, but don’t expect it to be the last. Reason: The new law, which …

Casual comments put you on FMLA notice

10/01/2002
Reginald Moore, a security-guard supervisor at a Virginia courthouse, told his boss he needed time off to care for his wife who had emphysema. A few months later, Moore said he …

Politics at work: Know state law on voting leave, political speech

10/01/2002
Federal laws are silent on the issue, but 31 states require private companies to give employees time off to vote if the polls are closed during the employee’s off-work time. …

Military service counts toward FMLA eligibility

09/01/2002
Ordinarily, workers are eligible for unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) after working for at least 12 months at a company and clocking at least 1,250 hours …

Comp Time for Exempt Workers: A Slippery Slope

09/01/2002

Q. Is it legal to give our full-time, salaried employees extra time off from work due to meetings and extra workload responsibilities? —C.E., West Virginia

Expect new rules on who’s exempt; possible changes to comp-time law

08/01/2002
The U.S. Labor Department says it will rewrite the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA) white-collar exemption rules for administrative, executive, professional and outside salespeople. Reason: Since those rules were drafted, some …

More companies opt for mandatory vacation, but is it legal?

08/01/2002
Continuing a cost-cutting step they took last year, some companies, especially tech firms, are again asking employees to take mandatory vacations. The forced time off, paid or not, is catching …

Employees can use vacation time toward one-year FMLA eligibility

07/01/2002
Robert Ruder began working in management at a Maine hospital on Jan. 5, 2000. Exactly one year later, he left work for unspecified medical reasons. His employer denied his request for …

Eligibility for Holiday Pay Is Your Call

07/01/2002

Q. Is there a law that states the number of hours necessary to be considered full time for being eligible for paid holidays? Our handbook says an employee who works fewer than 40 hours a week is considered part time. An employee who works 34 hours a week wonders if he should be eligible for paid holidays. Our handbook says he’s not. Is that OK? —B.D., Michigan

Avoid Two-Tier Benefit Policy

07/01/2002

Q. We offer all employees two weeks’ paid vacation a year. If an employee chooses a 100-percent, full-commission pay structure, how should we set her pay for vacation? The employee wants to take her annual pay divided by 52 weeks, but we feel that’s unfair to the employees who are on salary plus commission, because their vacation pay is based on their base salary divided by 52 weeks. Is there a correct and legal way to figure this? —R.D., Florida