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Wages & Hours

Aside from normal overtime, is there such a thing as mandatory holiday pay?

01/01/2008

Q. Our business has recently started staying open on certain national holidays, including Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. One of our employees was adamant that he was entitled to “holiday pay” for the time he worked on Thanksgiving, which he maintained was equal to 150% of his normal wage, even though he was not entitled to overtime that week. Do we have to pay a premium wage to employees who work on a federal holiday? …

Can managers make changes on time sheets?

01/01/2008
Q. Is it illegal for managers to change the time sheets of employees—either exempt or nonexempt—if they neglect to indicate a day off, etc.?

IRS Revenue Ruling 87-41

12/30/2007
Rev. Rul. 87-41 1987-1 C.B. 296. Internal Revenue Service Revenue Ruling EMPLOYMENT STATUS UNDER SECTION 530(D) OF THE REVENUE ACT OF 1978 Published: 1987 Section 3121.-Definitions, 26 CFR 31.3121(d)-1: Who are employees. (Also Sections 3306, 3401; 31.3306(i)-1, 31.3401(c)-1.)   Employment status under section 530(d) of the Revenue Act of 1978. Guidelines are set forth for determining […]

Consider paying for lunch breaks to avoid overtime claims

12/01/2007

Overtime lawsuits are becoming an epidemic. Lawyers file class-action lawsuits at the first hint that employees worked “off the clock,” either before the workday started or by working through parts of their unpaid lunch periods. There’s a simple way to avoid problems …

 

Like a nice, informal timekeeping system?

12/01/2007

The city of Akron will have to sell bonds to cover a $985,000 settlement with two former workers in the permits and plans division. The employees sued after the city destroyed a cache of the women’s time sheets showing comp time owed for extra hours they worked …

Prohibiting salary talk

12/01/2007

Q. It has always been a rule in our workplace that employees’ individual compensation information is to be kept confidential and is not to be discussed with co-workers. I recently had to write up one of my employees for violating this policy. That employee told me that my rule prohibiting discussion of wage information is illegal. Is this true? …

Ohio minimum wage and part-Year workplace

12/01/2007

Q. We operate an outside recreational facility that is only operational for three months a year. Our attorney has advised us that we are not required to pay the current Ohio minimum wage or overtime wage rate as stipulated on the Ohio minimum wage poster. I thought that all Ohio employers were required to pay the minimum wage rate and overtime, and do not want to violate the law. Is our attorney’s advice correct? …

Wage-and-Hour compliance: How to win the numbers game

12/01/2007

Have you or any of your organization’s supervisors ever given the go-ahead to hourly employees to work through lunch so they could leave work an hour early for a special occasion? Sure you have. Who hasn’t? But know this: Every time you do it, you’re probably breaking the law …

Inject more oversight, responsibility into flex schedules

12/01/2007

Seems like many employees view flexible work arrangements as an entitlement these days—maybe because HR has pushed the idea for years as a way to accommodate work/life conflicts. Putting more structure and accountability into the process makes flexibility less of an ad hoc perk. Here are four ways to structure flexible work arrangements in a more systematic way …

Strippers to Scores: Take your hands off our tips

12/01/2007

Dancers at Scores, a nationwide chain of strip clubs, have filed a back-wage lawsuit over unpaid overtime, underpaid wages and the club’s practice of skimming 10% of their tips. The lawsuit was filed by a former employee of the chain’s northern New Jersey location, but seeks to represent more than 100 Scores employees …