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Wages & Hours

To pay or not to pay interns? The DOL is cracking down

05/17/2010
Two factors have fueled a sharp rise in unpaid internships: Employers’ continuing need to hold down costs and the drop in the number of paying jobs for young people. But before you get too excited about using that free labor source, take note: The DOL and many state labor departments say they are stepping up enforcement and fines against employers that illegally don’t pay their interns.

Do we have to compensate employees who answer pagers off-the-clock?

05/14/2010
Q. We require certain employees to be on-call for customer service needs that arise after hours. Employees carry a pager while on-call, and are expected to respond to pages right away. Do we have to pay our employees regular wages, or a minimum number of hours and overtime for being on call?

Can we refuse to hire member of National Guard because she lacks weekend scheduling flexibility?

05/14/2010
Q. Can we refuse to hire a qualified applicant who has told us her National Guard duty conflicts with some of the weekends she would be required to work? Employees in this job bid for rotating scheduled weekends under a union contract seniority system. The applicant’s schedule for Guard duty is not flexible.

Massive Walmart class action moves forward

05/14/2010

It’s the employment law case everyone is watching. A massive, long-running gender pay discrimination class action against Walmart has overcome another hurdle on its way to what could become the largest payout to employees in U.S. history. The plaintiffs—potentially 1.5 million women who have worked at 3,400 Walmart stores—got a victory in April when the full panel 9th Circuit Court of Appeals gave the go-ahead for the case to proceed.

 

OK to use deductions to collect from employees?

05/11/2010
Q. If an employee owes us money, can we collect it through deductions from his wages?

Court: Despite their complexity, FLSA regulations still govern ‘dual assignment’ OT

05/11/2010

Some firefighters have additional law enforcement duties. Those employees are sometimes called “dual assignment” employees under the FLSA and must be paid overtime based on which duties they perform most of the time. That means that once firefighters begin spending the majority of their time on law enforcement duties, they’re eligible for overtime pay after working 86 hours in a two-week period. Firefighters must work more than 106 hours to receive overtime pay.

How should we treat pay for mortgage loan officers under the FLSA?

05/11/2010
Q. Do we have to pay our mortgage loan officers overtime for any hours worked over 40 in a week?

Can playing softball be working time?

05/08/2010
Question: According to the company grapevine, a couple of managers are pressuring their employees to attend and play on their softball teams at the company’s annual picnic. Would these employees need to be paid for this time?

Ledbetter timing applies to Texas cases, too

05/06/2010

Here’s a big new worry for Texas employers: Employees who want to sue over long-ago discriminatory pay decisions can do so within 180 days of the last discriminatory paycheck, at least according to one state appeals court. The 1st Court of Appeals has ruled that the federal Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act applies to discrimination cases under the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act as well as Title VII claims.

What is legal discipline for unauthorized overtime?

04/30/2010
Q. I know I can’t refuse to pay an hourly employee who works overtime even though I never authorized it. What I don’t understand is what kind of discipline should I implement? Can I, for example, deny a cost-of-living increase?