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Compensation & Benefits

Keep Control Over Comp-Time Accumulation

11/01/2001

Q. We have an exempt supervisor who’s accumulated more than 400 hours of comp time over the past year. It’s almost impossible for her to take 400 hours of comp time and do her job. What is our obligation to pay for this comp time? How can this issue best be resolved? —G.H., California

Egg on their faces: Mistakes in paying cooks cost $2.8 million

11/01/2001
Employers who misclassify workers as exempt continue to be hit with big-dollar court awards. In a recent decision, a federal court ordered owners of more than 100 Waffle House restaurants …

Exempt or not? ‘Primary duty’ isn’t a time test

11/01/2001
Michael and Constance Baldwin agreed to manage an RV park for a joint salary of $2,400 a month, plus on-site housing. They were on call 24 hours a day. After …

You Can Change Workers’ Hours on Short Notice

11/01/2001

Q. Can we change employees’ work hours on short notice by altering their schedules? Also, we have a part-time employee who’s been employed for a few months working 32 hours a week. She’s preparing to return to work after recovering from a car accident. Can we reduce her work hours? —J.L., Maryland

Giving a bonus can cost you in discrimination case

10/01/2001
Lisa Russell was rated “excellent” and received a bonus of $807. So what’s her gripe? An African-American co-worker received a higher rating of “outstanding” and a bonus of $1,355. Russell, who …

Sweeten Deal to Retain Worker After Training

10/01/2001

Q. We just covered the entire cost for an employee to complete nurses’ aide training. We intended to draw up an agreement before the training so that this employee would be available to our business for six months before she could seek other employment, but we failed to discuss the agreement before the training. Can we have her sign such an agreement now? —C.E., Ohio

EEOC rewriting rules on retiree health benefits

10/01/2001
The U.S. Equal Employment Oppor-tunity Commission (EEOC) is taking a fresh look at age discrimination in retiree health benefit plans. The commission rescinded its policy that had said employer plans …

Parent may take FMLA leave to care for grown children

10/01/2001
Gladys Navarro asked her employer, Pfizer Corp., for Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave because she wanted to take care of her adult daughter who was ordered to bed rest …

An honest mistake won’t sink you

10/01/2001
After receiving a phone message that her father had suffered a heart attack, Vickie Medley told her boss that she was leaving Denver immediately to drive to Nebraska. Over the next …

Don’t set automatic deadline for workers returning from disability leave.

10/01/2001
Make sure your medical leave policy doesn’t automatically terminate employees after a certain number of days. Blood Systems Inc. recently agreed to pay 23 employees a total of $650,000 after the …