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Wages & Hours

Salary deduction for part-Week absence doesn’t always destroy exemption

12/01/2007

Without a doubt, complying with California and federal wage-and-hour rules is difficult. For example, making deductions from the regular salary of exempt employees who are absent can destroy their exemptions and mean back pay for overtime. Thankfully, there is a safe harbor …

Forced arbitration agreement doesn’t stop class-Action wage-and-Hour lawsuits

12/01/2007

A California appeals court ruled that employees can still participate in class-action wage-and-hour lawsuits even if they signed arbitration agreements waiving their rights to those kinds of suits as a condition of continued employment. The court said such agreements are unconscionable and therefore not enforceable …

Time to come clean: car washes handed $1.6 million in citations

12/01/2007

The California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) recently conducted two days of sweeps at approximately 100 car washes in six Southern California counties, uncovering an array of employment law violations …

SoCal contractor pays $200,000 in back wages to employees

12/01/2007

The U.S. Labor Department announced that a Southern California company paid $200,013 in back wages for unpaid overtime to 231 current and former employees. Memo Scaffolding, which specializes in setting up scaffolding for residential and commercial construction projects, also paid $60,000 incivil penalties …

Reconciling rest periods and restrooms

12/01/2007

Q. We operate a labor-intensive factory that requires workers to remain at their stations throughout most of the workday. Is it legal to require workers to use their 10-minute rest period to use the restroom? …

Madison County settles in religious discrimination case

12/01/2007

An agnostic paramedic sued Madison County for religious discrimination after the county offered Christian counseling, held Christian prayer meetings in the workplace and allegedly terminated him because of his agnosticism …

MasTec to settle overtime suit

12/01/2007

Technology company MasTec has agreed to settle long-standing overtime suits involving some of its home installation employees. The complaints date back to 2001 and affect current and former employees in 10 states, including Georgia …

Best Buy hit with class-Action suit demanding back wages

12/01/2007

Jason Hall, of Malvern, who worked for two months in 2006 at the North Wales Best Buy store, has filed a suit over unpaid time spent by employees undergoing security searches and working through breaks …

‘Best Places to Work’ firm says state wants it shut down

12/01/2007

Bucks County contracting firm Worth & Co. says the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) has charged it with wage violations in an attempt to shut the company down because it is a nonunion shop. Worth won Pennsylvania’s “Best Places to Work Award” five years running, thanks to nominations from its employees …

Buying a business? You may be on hook for old violations

12/01/2007

Companies planning to take over existing businesses and continue running them as they were run in the past—watch out! If the former management didn’t pay its employees properly, your company may be inheriting legal liability as well as a new business …