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Wages & Hours

Docking employee’s pay for missing laptop

12/01/2006

Q. An employee who recently quit hasn’t returned a company-owned laptop computer worth over $1,000. Can we withhold the value of the computer from the employee’s last paycheck?

Florida minimum wage to rise to $6.67 at start of year

11/01/2006

This coming holiday season, the state of Florida has a gift planned for workers. Effective Jan. 1, 2007, the Florida minimum wage is set to increase in accordance with the state constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2004 …

Mortgage brokers sued for overtime, FLSA violations

11/01/2006

The U.S. Labor Department sued Alliance Mortgage Group and Credit Financial Services for allegedly owing more than $239,000 in back pay to about 200 loan officers it misclassified as exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act …

Prepare to pay overtime to some delivery drivers

11/01/2006

You can no longer rely on the "motor carrier exemption" in the Fair Labor Standards Act to avoid paying overtime to delivery drivers who use vans and pickup trucks on their routes …

Workers must suffer ‘Adverse action’ to win bias case

11/01/2006

Federal law says you must grant employees "reasonable accommodations" for their religious beliefs and practices. But that doesn’t mean that any employees who are told they must work on their Sabbath have an automatic lawsuit …

Employees can hold you to oral pay promises under Pa. law

11/01/2006

Here’s a reason to be extra careful about what you say to employees regarding their pay: The Pennsylvania Wage Payment and Collection Law (WPCL) gives employees a way to collect on employers’ promises about wages, even if those promises were never put in writing …

Requiring work during breaks: a $78 million mistake

11/01/2006

A Pennsylvania jury last month awarded a group of present and former Wal-Mart employees $78 million in damages because the mega-retailer forced the employees to work without pay …

If state orders back pay, worker can’t file a second suit

11/01/2006

Good news for New Jersey employers: When the New Jersey Department of Labor reviews an employee’s unpaid-overtime claim and orders back pay, the employee can’t file a separate lawsuit in federal court asking for more money and attorneys’ fees to boot. Labor’s decision is final; case closed …

Replace posters to reflect new $7.15 state minimum wage

11/01/2006

Make sure you’re complying with the state’s new minimum wage, which increased $1 per hour on Oct. 1 to $7.15 per hour. (For full-time college students, you may pay as little as 85 percent of the minimum wage.) …

Court Upholds ‘Living Wage’ Law in Hudson County

11/01/2006

Hudson County’s Living Wage Law has survived a constitutional challenge brought by a county contractor. The suit alleged that the law imposed restrictions on some businesses but not others, which violated the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause …