• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Wages & Hours

Of course employees know how their pay compares

09/10/2019
82% of professionals feel well-informed about what they should be making in their current position, and 73% say they’ve checked their salary against market rates in the last year.

Drywall company can’t paper over wage violations

09/04/2019
Rice Drywall has agreed to pay 558 employees $354,763 in back wages after investigators from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found the company misclassified employees as independent contractors.

Automatic timekeeping system? Make sure it truly records all hours worked

09/04/2019
A group of about 100 customer service representatives have won class-action status for their lawsuit alleging overtime and underpayment violations. The case highlights how crucial it is for timekeeping systems to capture all hours worked.

Security company zapped for overtime violations

08/23/2019
Star Pro Security Patrol of Costa Mesa, California, has agreed to settle charges it failed to pay proper overtime to 63 employees.

Piece work pay rate violates FLSA in LA

08/23/2019
ESS Apparel in Los Angeles has agreed to pay 21 employees $53,876 in back pay and overtime to resolve charges it violated the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Appeals court reverses course: Sometimes a ‘service charge’ really is a gratuity

08/23/2019
A California state appeals court has reinstated a lawsuit asking whether banquet “service charges” are tips payable to servers under Labor Code Section 351.

‘Predictive scheduling’ laws pick up steam

08/15/2019
Does your organization sometimes cancel employees’ shifts at the last minute, schedule extra workers for peak times (then send some of them home) or require employees to be prepared to call in to work at any time? If so, a growing trend of local laws could make those practices unlawful.

Overtime rule forwarded to White House for final review

08/13/2019
The Department of Labor sent its long-awaited white-collar overtime rule to the White House for a final review on Aug. 12. If enacted, the rule would raise the minimum overtime salary threshold by 50% from the current $23,660.

Employer survey: Pay to rise a modest 3% in 2020

08/13/2019
U.S. employees hoping for larger pay raises next year may be disappointed. A new survey by the Willis Towers Watson consulting firm finds that U.S. employers plan to hold the line on budgeted pay raises in 2020, despite low unemployment and a tight labor market.

Can we make pay raises contingent on doing charitable volunteer work?

07/30/2019
Q. Our new CEO believes in volunteering and wants to institute a new requirement that all employees volunteer at least five hours per month to be eligible for pay increases at evaluation time. She wants to provide a list of appropriate places to volunteer. Can she do this?