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Wages & Hours

Top 10 things to know about North Carolina Wage and Hour Act

04/23/2008
Many employers are familiar with the basic requirements of federal wage-and-hour law—the minimum wage, how to calculate overtime and who must receive it. But the North Carolina Wage and Hour Act is often a mystery to employers and employees alike. Here are the top 10 things you should know about the act …

Prepping for work: How much time do you have to pay for?

04/21/2008
Perhaps no other aspect of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is more confusing than the so-called “donning and doffing” provisions. Exactly what preliminary preparation before work and cleanup after work should be included in paid time? Fortunately, a recent case helps clarify that employers don’t need to pay workers for many preliminary and post-work activities …

How to respond when employees’ creditors come calling

04/21/2008

Record numbers of bankruptcies and foreclosures have been making news for years. However, a quieter phenomenon—one fraught with traps for unwary employers—is a concurrent and growing trend of court-ordered or government-issued wage garnishments. Here’s practical advice on what to do when someone wants a piece of your employee’s paycheck.

Employees live on premises? Here’s how to compensate

04/18/2008
Do you require some employees to live on the premises so they can be on call to provide emergency or other services? If so, you can structure the compensation system to pay only for actual time worked. You don’t have to compensate them for the time spent waiting to deal with some work-related matter …

Good ol’ boy network could cost you millions

04/18/2008
Is there’s a “good ol’ boy” network growing in your organization? If promotions and raises tend to go just to employees who win management’s favor—and not to those who perform, regardless of race or gender—you could easily find yourself on the losing end of a big lawsuit. How big? Try $24 million!

Starbucks steamed over $105 million verdict on tips

04/18/2008
A California Superior Court judge has ordered coffee giant Starbucks to pay its baristas $100 million in lost tips resulting from the company’s tip jar policy. Additionally, the court issued an injunction barring shift supervisors and managers from receiving tips …

San Francisco supervisors say high-Priced employees face layoffs

04/18/2008
Faced with a large budget shortfall, San Francisco supervisors are proposing a way to deal with the $338 million deficit the city expects next year. Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin wants to draft legislation that eliminates some high-paying city positions …

The HR burden of administering garnishments

04/18/2008
Q. We have received garnishment orders for several employees. This could pose an administrative burden on our small HR department. What can we do to reduce this burden? …

To pay or not to pay summer interns

04/18/2008
Q. Our company is considering hiring student interns this summer. Are we required to pay them under California law? …

Handling time-Clock rounding for early, late workers

04/17/2008
Q. We don’t allow our employees to punch the time clock more than seven minutes early or clock out more than seven minutes late. How do we round up or down when calculating how to pay them for clocking in early or out late? — J.N., Connecticut …