Wages & Hours

Beware automatic nightly time-clock resets

11/13/2014

If your business doesn’t operate 24/7, you probably shut down just about everything at some point during the night. That’s especially common with retail operations. If that shutdown includes resetting the time clocks to automatically clock out everyone, you may be courting a lawsuit.

Minimum wages on the rise as ballot initiatives pass

11/12/2014

The minimum wage will increase in Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska and South Dakota, as well as Oakland and San Francisco, Calif., after voters approved local ballot initiatives on Nov. 4.

Oil firms must pay millions for required pre-work meetings

11/03/2014

Oil and natural gas giant Shell Oil and refiner Motiva have agreed to pay $4,460,764 to 2,677 workers after the U.S. Department of Labor determined the companies failed to pay workers for required pre-shift meetings.

How should we pay for weekend travel time?

10/31/2014

Q. How do you pay hourly employees who are traveling on a day that’s not considered a workday, like Saturday or Sunday? What if they normally have a 10-minute commute to the office but instead they have to go to the airport, which is an hour away?

Complicated compensation formula? Prepare to spell out all details in court

10/27/2014

Here’s a warning for employers with overly complicated compensation systems: If someone believes the pay plan is discriminatory, you’ll probably have to spend considerable time explaining the system in court. Simpler may be better.

Pursuit of SoCal dentist shows wage law has teeth

10/27/2014

For a Southern California cook, getting paid was like pulling teeth. For five months he was a private chef for a dentist, but was never paid.

Most executives back higher minimum wage

10/23/2014

With state, local and midterm elections approaching, the minimum wage remains one of the nation’s top socioeconomic and political issues. Recent national polls have shown support for minimum wage increases among voters at large, and according to a new CareerBuilder survey, most executives are right there with them.

In pay case, Supreme Court asks: What is work?

10/16/2014

Does standing in line count as work? That was at the core of the Justice’s questions on Oct. 7 as the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Integrity Staffing Solutions v. Busk (No. 13-433, U.S. Supreme Court, 2014).

DOL: Baby Vision tried to silence workers, thwart probe

10/15/2014

The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a restraining order against BabyVision Inc. in Poughkeepsie after workers reported being threatened and intimidated by the company’s two owners.

What do we need to consider before offering extra pay for weekend work?

10/14/2014

Q. We have a short-term project coming up that is going to require some of our hourly, nonexempt employees to work some extra weekend hours. We are thinking we might pay them a higher rate to work on the weekends to encourage employees to volunteer and to reward them. Is there anything we should be keeping in mind before we do that?