• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Compensation & Benefits

Tech firm woos young hires with perks like ping-pong

07/12/2013
New York technology provider SiteCompli attracts recent college graduates for entry-level jobs with perks like a “Dress Like a Rock Star” clothing budget for each employee, a Chelsea loft-style office complete with a kitchen full of snacks, a conference table made of 32,000 Legos and high-intensity ping-pong tournaments.

ACA employer mandate postponed until 2015

07/09/2013
The Obama administration has decided to wait a year before requiring organizations with 50 or more full-time employees to provide health insurance benefits under the Affordable Care Act health care reform law.

To pay or not to pay: Interns aren’t just a source of free labor

07/09/2013
It’s summertime, and college interns are filling corporate America’s cubicles. How many of those fresh-faced kids are wage-and-hour lawsuits just waiting to happen?

Starbucks shift bosses tipped, assistant managers stiffed

07/09/2013
The New York Court of Appeal—the state’s highest court—has ruled that Starbucks baristas in New York must share tips with their shift supervisors. Assistant managers, however, are out of luck. The court said they don’t get a cut of the nickels, dimes and quarters left in the jars on the Starbucks counters.

DOMA overturned, launching HR overhaul

07/09/2013
The U.S. Supreme Court on June 26 ruled the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) unconstitutional, a decision that set in motion a sweeping rewrite of federal rules affecting benefits administration and payroll operations.

Mere guessing at compensation disparity won’t help employee win EPA lawsuit

07/09/2013
Here’s some good news. A court has quickly dismissed a pay disparity lawsuit that a university mathematics professor filed accusing her university of paying male faculty more than their female colleagues.

Health care system honors nurses with week of ‘magic’

07/09/2013
Supplemental Health Care, which places nurses, therapists and other health care professionals in temporary jobs, celebrated National Nurses Week in May by rewarding the traveling nurses among its own employees.

State-by-state 2013 short-term child-care leave laws

07/08/2013

Here’s a chart summarizing states’ paid and unpaid short-term leave laws. In most cases, leave is unpaid, but employees may substitute paid leave. States that don’t have laws aren’t listed.

What should we do? Our summer intern is suddenly demanding back pay?

07/05/2013
Q. We hired an intern for the summer. She was eager to work for free to add it to her résumé … We told her that after this week we won’t need her. That’s when she said we owe her minimum wage or she’ll complain to the Department of Labor. Do we really have to pay her?

How to reduce wage-and-hour lawsuit risks (and defend yourself if sued)

07/05/2013
During a recent 12-month period, more than 7,750 wage-and-hour lawsuits were filed in federal courts, an increase of almost 10% over the preceding 12 months. Pennsylvania once again ranked among the top 10 states for such new lawsuits. The good news: There are ways for employers to reduce the risk of wage-and-hour suits, and strengthen their defenses if one is filed.