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Wages & Hours

Equal Pay Act claims may hit employers by surprise

05/01/2008
Employers may think last year’s U.S. Supreme Court Ledbetter decision means employees can’t wait years before complaining about sex discrimination if the issue is pay. Surprise! It’s not always true …

‘Service charges’ may be tips—And therefore must go to waitstaff

05/01/2008
When entertainment venues sell prepaid tickets, these often include a “service charge.” If the business tells inquiring buyers that the service charge is a tip, and therefore discourages them from leaving additional money, the business can’t keep the money. It doesn’t matter whether the service charge is voluntary or mandatory …

Careful what you wish for at IBM

05/01/2008
Victory wasn’t so sweet for thousands of employees who sued Armonk-based IBM claiming the company had illegally classified them as exempt. IBM agreed to reclassify them, making them eligible for overtime pay. The catch? The company cut their salaries by 15% …

AAM strike rocks GM operations across North America

05/01/2008
A strike by workers at five American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings (AAM) plants in New York and Michigan led to temporary closures at more than a dozen General Motors plants in February and March …

Ignoring your military pay policy may be costly

05/01/2008
If, like many employers, you honor military service with special pay arrangements for those who serve their country, take note: If you don’t follow your own handbook, you may find a court ready to punish you with big damages …

Gov. Strickland ends flextime for state employees

05/01/2008
Gov. Ted Strickland has put an end to flexible work hours for thousands of state employees, citing the need to provide full staffing during the traditional business hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday …

Mandated sick leave: Coming to a state or city near you?

05/01/2008
Washington, D.C., has become the second city to guarantee employees paid sick leave to care for themselves or a sick child. More than a dozen states are weighing legislation to mandate paid sick leave for employees …

Revise confidentiality policy to omit any hint it covers wages

05/01/2008
It’s considered impolite in many circles to discuss money, but don’t try to stop employees from talking about their pay. Setting a policy that prohibits employees from sharing information about hourly rates, salaries, bonuses or the terms of their employment could violate the National Labor Relations Act—even if your employees do not belong to a union …

Biased pay policies cost school district millions

04/25/2008
A federal jury has awarded $1.2 million to 12 teachers who sued the Elizabeth Forward School District in Allegheny County for age discrimination. The teachers alleged they were hired at the lowest pay scale because they were older women …

How can we recover funds accidentally overpaid to an employee?

04/25/2008
Q. We recently overpaid an employee by $3,000, but we did not discover the discrepancy for six months. Can we automatically and legitimately withhold those wages from the employee’s paycheck? Also, would it be inappropriate to dock additional wages because the employee did not make us aware of the mistake?  …