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Compensation & Benefits

Summer staff get-togethers for every budget

06/02/2009

While you may not have been partying much at the office lately, some employers see summer as an ideal time for an all-staff get-together. Instead of spending a lot on flowers and glassware rentals, get creative with these summertime themes.

Rules of the road: Know when to pay hourly employees for travel time

06/02/2009
You don’t need to pay nonexempt employees for their commuting time to and from the workplace. That’s simple. But what if such employees occasionally travel off-site (or even overnight) for work reasons?

Paid sick leave for all workers? Congress weighs the idea

06/01/2009

Legislation introduced in Congress on May 19 would require employers with 15 or more workers to provide at least seven days of paid sick leave per employee per year.

Economy has workers saying ‘no’ to vacation, ‘yes’ to OT

06/01/2009

Vacations appear to be another victim of Americans’ tight budgets and layoff fears. More than one-third of workers say they won’t use all their allotted vacation time this year, and just 39% plan to take one compete week off …

Tell bosses: Keep family planning and pregnancy talk out of the workplace

06/01/2009

It’s natural to ask questions when you learn someone at work is going to have a baby. But it’s quite another thing when pregnancy-related questions come from supervisors. It’s best to let HR handle any leave requests and the like. Otherwise, you just might find your questions interpreted as anti-pregnancy bias if you end up having to fire a pregnant employee.

Must we pay out unused vacation days when we fire employees or they quit?

06/01/2009

Q. Is an employer required to pay workers for their unused vacation days when they resign or are terminated?

New Jersey ranks 50th on business tax index

05/27/2009

New Jersey finished next to last in the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council’s (SBEC) Business Tax Index for 2009. The SBEC annually assesses the tax climates for business and entrepreneurs in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

North Carolina ranks 38th on business tax index

05/27/2009

North Carolina finished in the bottom third of states ranked in the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council’s (SBEC) Business Tax Index for 2009. The Tar Heel State placed 38th overall, well below neighboring South Carolina (11th), Tennessee (13th), Virginia (16th) and Georgia (19th).

Proceed with caution when making health-related inquiries

05/27/2009

Employers enter a legal minefield when they inquire about the health of applicants or employees. State and federal laws—such as the North Carolina Workers’ Compensation Act (WCA), the ADA and the FMLA—overlap, and any misstep can cause a litigation explosion.

What’s enough ‘consideration’ in a noncompete?

05/27/2009

Q. I understand that “consideration” is required for noncompete agreements in North Carolina, and that, for existing employees, continued employment is not valid consideration. How much must a company pay to have sufficient consideration?