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Wages & Hours

Taqueria shells out $33,000 for wage-and-hour violations

01/28/2016
Taqueria La Herradura in Pharr, Texas, has paid more than $33,000 in damages to its kitchen staff following a U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation.

Avoid the joint-employer perils of hiring temporary workers

01/27/2016

The Department of Labor has jumped on the National Labor Relations Board joint-employer bandwagon.

Most employers limiting raises to 3% this year

01/20/2016
A slim majority of employers—51%—say cost control is their primary compensation planning goal for 2016, after focusing more on talent retention in 2015. The result, according to Buck Consultants’ ninth annual Compensation Planning Survey: another year of stingy pay raises.

New rules: Minimum wage for piece-rate workers in California

01/15/2016
Under a law that took effect in Jan­uary, piece-rate and commission-paid employees in California must receive at least the minimum wage. Piece-rate employees must also be paid at least the minimum wage for all time spent on tasks not specifically included in the piece rate.

Must we pay for employees’ online training from home?

01/04/2016
Q. “Our company has a policy of completing mandatory compliance training by a certain date every year. Can hourly employees who cannot complete these trainings during work hours (when they are clocked in) be asked to complete these trainings from home by logging on to the company’s training website? Will they have to be paid for this time? Is this legal?”

New classification aims at ‘gig’ economy

12/22/2015

Traditionally, there are four possible ways to classify people who perform work. But two classifications—independent contractors and employees—cover most work. Except, some say, in the emerging sharing or “gig” economy. Now two economists at the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington, D.C., have proposed a new category: independent worker.

Is there any requirement to pay a special premium to employees who must work on holidays?

12/21/2015
Q. This came up last month. We needed some of our employees to work during the holidays. Were we required to pay them extra for those days?

What are the limits on hours that school-age children can work in California?

12/21/2015
Q. We would like to employ some high school students to do clerical work. What are the laws regarding the number of hours we can ask them to work?

Suit challenges call-in policy at retailer Urban Outfitters

12/21/2015
Urban Outfitters and its subsidiaries Anthropologie and Free People face a lawsuit alleging the company’s call-in policy violates California labor law.

Federal contractors to ring in New Year with two new rules

12/14/2015
Federal contractors face two January compliance mandates affecting employee pay.