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Compensation & Benefits

Social responsibility drives Calvert Group benefits

01/01/2008

The Calvert Group encourages people to invest the minute they’re born. The mutual fund company gives employees who become moms and dads a $1,000 baby bonus to invest in a Calvert account. “It certainly makes sense given what we do as a company,” says Kathy Torrence, VP of corporate social responsibility …

Tar Heel tickets a political football for Edwards’ campaign

01/01/2008

When Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards returned to the University of North Carolina (UNC) to establish a poverty think tank in 2005, his salary was a matter of public record. But what the press really wanted to know was how many Tar Heel athletics tickets did he try to get? …

DeWeese’s ‘Tuesday massacre’ has Democrats cringing

01/01/2008
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Retiring instead of facing discipline doesn’t constitute constructive discharge

01/01/2008

Employees who retire to avoid facing internal disciplinary charges can’t turn around and claim they were constructively discharged. That’s why employers might want to consider offering retirement in such cases as an option in lieu of discipline …

Settle quickly if you’re worried overtime case will expand

01/01/2008

Overtime collective actions represent a growing nationwide trend. These are cases in which one employee claims his employer misclassified him as exempt and owes overtime. The employee also claims to represent everyone else similarly situated. If such a case goes forward, it may mean the employer must pay out thousands of dollars in unpaid overtime. Employers have only one chance to make the case go away …

Majority of AstraZeneca employees take advantage of flex time

01/01/2008

Few organizations can boast that 90% of their employees use flexible work arrangements. Yet the majority of employees at AstraZeneca’s Wilmington, DE, headquarters use flexible work options ranging from compressed workweeks and part-time schedules to telecommuting and job sharing …

Remind supervisors: Neglecting job descriptions, appraisals lead to trouble

01/01/2008

It may be a busy, hectic and crazy workplace, but that doesn’t excuse supervisors and managers from providing updated and accurate job descriptions and documenting job performances. Workplaces that neglect those essential duties face huge lawsuit risks …

Women have up to three years to file equal-Pay lawsuits under the EPA

01/01/2008

If you thought last year’s U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Ledbetter case made it clear that employees must file EEOC complaints within 300 days of suffering a discriminatory pay decision, think again. That deadline applies only to sex discrimination cases brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act …

Basic problem stalls pay suit: Plaintiff made lots of money

01/01/2008

Jacqueline Bowbin sued Bulkmatic Transport Inc. for gender discrimination, alleging violations of the Equal Pay Act. In 2006, Bowbin claims, her supervisor told her she would be well into a six-figure salary with bonuses and stock compensation. But that year, Bulkmatic apparently did not award either, companywide. Bowbin cried gender discrimination …

Time spent working on employee suggestion program—Is it work time?

01/01/2008

Q. Our company recently has adopted an employee suggestion program with prizes for employees who make a suggestion that we adopt. I have been asked whether employees who turn in suggestions must be paid for the time they spend on developing their ideas if they work on them at home. Employees are not required to turn in suggestions, but we did make a big deal about the suggestion program with our employees …