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Wages & Hours

If you ignore legal notice, you lose

02/01/2008

Ignoring any legal papers that land on the receptionist’s desk may spell big trouble. If you don’t answer a lawsuit in time, whoever filed the lawsuit gets an automatic win …

Payroll blunder leads to big payday for Hurricane Katrina workers

02/01/2008

Two companies providing services in the Hurricane Katrina recovery have agreed to pay a total of nearly $1 million to settle claims that nearly 400 workers weren’t paid fairly for their overtime hours …

Do we have to pay for ‘Promised’ hours?

02/01/2008

Q. We have a part-time, hourly employee who usually works three days per week for 12 hours. If we don’t have enough work to fill the time, can we send her home without paying her for the unworked hours that week? — J.T., South Carolina …

When can we dock commissioned worker’s check?

02/01/2008

Q. We have an employee on pure commission who is taking three days off this week. Can we subtract the average of three days’ commission from his check? — L.L., Texas …

Shipping interstate or intrastate? It matters for overtime

02/01/2008

Due to a legislative quirk, the Fair Labor Standards Act doesn’t cover many employees who deliver goods via the nation’s highways. Instead, the drivers are excluded under the FLSA’s motor carrier safety exemption. But it’s not so simple …

Sonoma McDonald’s to pay over $1 million to end wage case

02/01/2008

The owner of several Sonoma County McDonald’s restaurants has agreed to pay $1,155,407 to settle wage-and-hour claims brought by its workers. A class of approximately 1,000 workers claimed that DCT Inc. and Mendes Family Enterprises Inc. denied them overtime pay and breaks …

Setting sound vacation policies requires understanding NC law

02/01/2008

Employers and employees alike often misunderstand North Carolina’s legal requirements concerning vacation benefits. Those misunderstandings often can become emotional and heated. The best way to avoid such disputes is to publish a clear vacation benefits policy based on a solid understanding of North Carolina law …

Handing over the final paycheck

02/01/2008

Q. When and how must I deliver a fired employee’s final paycheck? …

Make sure you pay what contract states

02/01/2008

Indiana employers, listen up! Pay your workers what you say you will pay them, or get ready to pay a lot more. Employees can sue for unpaid wages under the Indiana Wage Payment Act and collect three times their unpaid wages. That can add up quickly …

To pay or not to pay when inclement weather closes the office

02/01/2008

Q. During a recent patch of inclement weather, our company president determined that the roads were too unsafe to ask our employees to come in to work. We notified our employees that they would not be needed that day, and that they were welcome to use a vacation day if they wanted to be paid. (Normally, our policy requires 48 hours’ notice if employees want to take a vacation day.) Some of our employees do not have any accumulated vacation time. Must we offer to pay them? …