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Wages & Hours

Effort to Extend Statute of Limitations on Pay-Bias Lawsuits Fails in Congress

05/12/2008
Federal anti-discrimination law gives employees either 180 or 300 days (depending on the state they live in) to file an employment discrimination claim with the EEOC. Pro-employee legislation that aimed to extend that limit much further failed in Congress this month.

Duty differences, experience enough to defeat equal pay claim

05/12/2008
The Equal Pay Act was passed to ensure that women are paid the same as men for substantially equal work. The law does allow for differences based on any factor “other than sex,” but you must be prepared to explain pay differentials in a way that clearly demonstrates why two employees in the same job receive different wages …

Here’s a tip: Know law on paying employees who work for tips

05/12/2008
Hundreds of thousands of Floridians rely on tips for part of their incomes. To stay on the right side of wage-and-hour laws, their employers need to understand the somewhat tricky interplay of tip income and the minimum wage …

Michigan ranks 47th in pay equity

05/09/2008
Michigan women on average earn 69.8 cents for every dollar earned by a man for equivalent work, well below most states, according to the Michigan Women’s Commission …

Enforce overtime approval policies—But pay for all hours worked

05/09/2008

Q. Our company policy requires an employee’s supervisor to approve all overtime. However it’s common for employees to work overtime that has not been approved; time they then record on their time sheets. Since the overtime was never approved, our management takes the position that it does not need to pay for this overtime. My understanding is that all hours worked must be paid. Which is correct? …

Staffing company owes $3 million to guest workers

05/07/2008
 The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has directed Advanced Professional Marketing Inc. (APMI), a medical staffing company based in New York City, to pay almost $3 million in back wages to more than 150 H-1B guest workers …

Chief judge takes New York to court over low pay

05/07/2008
Chief Judge Judith Kaye has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the state’s 1,250 judges claiming the political process has denied them their constitutional rights to an “adequate” salary. The reason: The New York Legislature hasn’t given them a raise in a decade …

And you thought those tip jars never amounted to much

05/07/2008
After Starbucks baristas won a $105 million verdict in California over tip-sharing, a former barista has filed a nearly identical lawsuit against the company in New York …

Ensure FLSA exemption is for actual job—Not theoretical one

05/06/2008
When it comes to the Fair Labor Standards Act, employers can’t afford to make classification mistakes. Only exempt employees lose out on overtime when they work more than 40 hours per week. The U.S. Department of Labor—and courts—strictly interpret what constitutes exempt work and what does not …

DOL files back-Wage suit against Aggregate Industries

05/06/2008
The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a lawsuit seeking more than $1 million in back wages for 302 Denver-area employees of Aggregate Industries in Golden. The lawsuit claims the company paid truck drivers on a per-load basis without regard to the number of hours they worked, resulting in unpaid overtime …