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Wages & Hours

Don’t Require Direct Deposit

04/01/2003

Q. Can a business require employees to use direct deposit of paychecks? —N.C., Kansas

Fast fix to FLSA error can save you, but ‘correction window’ closes fast

03/01/2003
If you screw up on a Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) pay issue, don’t count on the “window of corrections” to save you. Sure, this Labor Department rule allows you to …

Offset bonus pay against weekly overtime with care

02/01/2003
Fabri-Centers gave workers several bonus payments above their base pay, including shift differentials, holiday pay and spot bonuses. But the company calculated employees’…

FLSA, FMLA enforcement reaches record highs

02/01/2003
If you thought the regulatory watchdogs would become lap dogs under the Bush administration, you were wrong. In fiscal 2002, the U.S. Labor Department collected $143 …

Supreme Court upholds pro-union fund-raising tactic

02/01/2003
In a victory for unions, the Supreme Court recently let stand a lower court ruling that said employees can be forced to pay mandatory dues for union organizing that occurs …

When to Pay for On-Call Time

02/01/2003

Q. When do we have to count “on-call” time as hours worked?—L.G., California

Employees can refuse to work due to safety fears, even at nonunion site

01/01/2003
Three apartment maintenance workers refused to scrape and paint a water-damaged ceiling after they saw a TV report on airborne-asbestos health risks. When they voiced a concern, their supervisor said there …

Reimburse any pre-employment costs that cut into minimum wage.

01/01/2003
Migrant workers at a Florida farm were required to pay expenses out of pocket for securing work visas and traveling to job sites. Because these costs amounted to “pre-employment deductions” from …

Noncash compensation counts toward minimum wage

01/01/2003
You probably don’t have employees living in your workplace, but a recent case illustrates your vulnerability to lawsuits if you keep workers tethered to the job, either physically or by phone, …

Dress codes: Strip away discrimination, ‘uniform’ dangers

12/01/2002
If your business is image-driven, now’s the time to take a closer look at how you regulate employee appearance. Reason: An increasing number of lawsuits are successfully challenging employers’ dress-code policies. …