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Compensation & Benefits

Minimum wage: Steady nationally, rising in 7 states

12/13/2012
The federal minimum wage will remain at $7.25 per hour in 2013, but the minimum wage will rise in at least seven states on Jan. 1.

For unemployment comp purposes, employee quits the day she gives notice

12/12/2012
Workers receiving unemployment benefits are encouraged to take available positions even if it looks like the job may be unsuitable. As incentive, taking the job and then quitting within 30 days won’t bar continued benefits. The date that counts isn’t the last day worked, but the day the worker gave notice.

If you agree to a late return date, extend employees’ reinstatement date, too

12/12/2012
The Minnesota Parental Leave Act provides up to six weeks of leave for childbirth and recovery or adoption. Employees who take leave are entitled to reinstatement. It also includes a provision for extending parental leave, stating that leave “may not exceed six weeks, unless agreed to by the employer.” Until now, it remained up in the air what should happen to the reinstatement right if the employer agreed to a longer leave.

All better? Great! Now, repay 11 years of workers’ comp

12/12/2012
A South Carolina man has been convicted of workers’ compensation fraud for bilking the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation out of $143,203.33.

Beware bias claims if pay cuts are looming

12/12/2012
Like many state and local government ­employers, you no doubt are looking to cut ex­­penses, including labor costs. If you must scale back employee pay, make sure that there’s no discrimination in whose salary is cut. Other­­wise, your savings may be eaten up in litigation costs.

Fiscal Cliff Watch: The clock is ticking, and still no withholding tables

12/12/2012
Negotiations to resolve the “fiscal cliff”—a package of tax increases and spending cuts—that will kick in on Jan. 1, 2013, are taking place at an excruciatingly slow pace. Unfortunately, key payroll issues are caught up in the fracas. Until the impasse is resolved, Payroll can’t begin implementing plans for 2013 operations.

Can employees bank OT hours for extra leave?

12/12/2012

Q. Sometimes, our employees work overtime and we note those hours in an overtime bank so they can take time off later. One of our employees claims this is illegal and that we have to pay him. Is that true?

IRS retires old-fashioned letter-forwarding program

12/06/2012
If you’ve ever been unable to locate former employees who were owed 401(k) plan assets or final paychecks, you’ve probably used the IRS’ letter-forwarding program to try to contact them. No longer.

NY High Court peering into Starbucks’ murky tip pool

12/05/2012

The state’s highest court is weighing how New York state law applies to Starbucks’ tip-pooling practices, which funnel some customer tips to management personnel. The case has wound through the legal system as courts try to determine how state law applies to Star­­bucks’ tip pools.

Feds trim $106K in back pay from Midland landscaper

12/03/2012
Seventy current and former landscaping employees will rake in $106,818 following a U.S. Depart­­ment of Labor investigation of their Midland employer’s wage-and-hour practices.