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Compensation & Benefits

Decrease in Overtime Hours Not Necessarily an ‘Adverse Action’

01/01/2006

Employees need to prove they suffered some sort of "adverse job action" (firing, demotion, worse job conditions, etc.) to file a discrimination lawsuit. But variations in work schedules don’t necessarily amount to an adverse action. That’s true even if an employee’s altered schedule results in fewer overtime hours …

You need luck to uncover fraud, but a bit of skill helps, too

01/01/2006

While most workplace financial fraud is discovered by chance, it still pays to institute controls that can identify such scams. A new PricewaterhouseCoopers study of 3,600 employers found that 45 percent of respondents had detected incidents of fraud …

Don’t complicate the paycheck pickup process

01/01/2006

Q. Once a year, we have employees show a picture ID and provide a signature that allows them to authorize someone else to pick up their paycheck for them. If an employee doesn’t provide ID and a signature, we will mail the check or hold it until he or she personally picks it up. Is this legal? —J.I., Washington, D.C.

You may be liable for wage claims from contractor’s illegal workers

01/01/2006

You might think outsourcing jobs to an independent contractor saves money. But if you insist on exercising any significant control over how, when and where independent contractors do their job, you may end up paying dearly in the end if your organization is deemed the true employer …

Immigration Steps Up High-Profile Workplace Raids

01/01/2006

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is stepping up its efforts to discourage employers from hiring undocumented workers. ICE recently raided a million-square-foot Wal-Mart warehouse in Butler, Pa., netting 125 undocumented workers …

Same job titles don’t demand the same pay

01/01/2006

While the Equal Pay Act prohibits wage discrimination against women, make sure you and your supervisors realize that it doesn’t require every employee in the same position to earn the same salary. If you can point to factors other than gender (seniority, education, experience, skills, etc.), you can set radically different salaries for employees who hold the exact same job …

You won’t be liable for employees’ conjecture about discrimination

12/01/2005
You can’t stop employees and low-level supervisors from comparing notes and speculating about management’s motivations; the right to complain is practically …

Keeping confidential info secret: Lessons from the Wal-Mart leak

12/01/2005

Wal-Mart execs were wearing egg on their faces last month, and possibly facing legal action, after news media published an internal memo in which a senior VP suggested "clever" ways to cut benefit costs …

Holiday bonuses are out; performance pay is in

12/01/2005
Holiday bonuses are becoming less of a holiday tradition, as 59 percent of employers won’t award them this year, says a new Hewitt Associates survey. “Employers recognize that the value in …

Encourage use of generic drugs by waiving co-pay

12/01/2005
To persuade employees to switch from expensive brand-name prescription drugs to generics, some employers are eliminating co-payments for generic drugs. Others are waiving the first two or three months of generic …