Wages & Hours

Include travel time pay when figuring OT

02/22/2019

Do you have workers you pay a set amount for travel time from one location to another during the day? If so, that payment probably must be included in “hours worked” for calculating overtime payments for the week.

St. Paul’s $15 minimum wage will start phasing in July 1

02/22/2019

By July 1, 2022, the city government and large employers will have to pay workers $15 per hour. Small businesses will have until July 1, 2027 to hit that mark.

OT rule details could be revealed in March

02/21/2019

The Trump administration is signaling that rules setting a new white-collar overtime threshold are imminent.

Failure to pay overtime costs Queens hotels $750K

02/12/2019

The owners of three Queens hotels must pay $360,543 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages after investigators from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found 83 employees had been denied overtime pay.

OK to round hours if it favors employees

02/06/2019

Employers often round workers’ time up or down instead of calculating the exact number of minutes worked. That’s fine as long as, on average, the system works to employees’ benefit.

New Year brings minimum wage changes for Minnesota employers

01/02/2019

Now is the time to review labor and employment laws that will affect Minnesota employers in 2019. The minimum wage has been raised by the state of Minnesota and in the Twin Cities.

Advise unemployment authorities if you are still paying commissions to former employee

01/02/2019

If a former employee is collecting on your unemployment account, be sure to let the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development know, so it can adjust the benefit amount.

Worker demands back overtime? Investigate and, if warranted, pay up

12/06/2018

If an employer pays overtime incorrectly, it may be liable for up to two years of unpaid overtime, doubled as a penalty. But if an employer’s overtime mistake is “willful,” that liability reaches back another year, adding to the cost.

Prepare for new labor and employment laws

12/06/2018

With 2019 just around the corner, now is the time to preview labor and employment laws that will soon affect employers.

DOL names the duties your waiter can be directed to do for free

11/13/2018

The Department of Labor has issued an opinion letter confirming activities for which tipped workers need not be paid extra.