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Wages & Hours

Know the FLSA’s requirements: Small, local employers may well have to comply

04/07/2014

Very small employers that aren’t engaged in interstate commerce sometimes try to argue that they don’t need to follow the FLSA because they are simply too local. But they often run into legal hurdles when employees sue, as this recent case shows.

Ensure collective bargaining agreements spell out exact wage-and-hour terms

04/03/2014
Here’s a case that illustrates at least one advantage for em­­ployers to a union workplace. If your collective bargaining agreement spells out how pay is calculated and excludes time spent donning and doffing work clothes and safety equipment, a contrary state wage-and-hour law doesn’t apply.

Supreme Court: Severance is FICA-taxable

04/01/2014
The U.S. Supreme Court on March 25 unanimously ruled that severance pay is subject to withholding of FICA taxes, which employers and employees pay to fund Social Security and Medicare.

Final business: 5 steps to take when an employee dies

04/01/2014

Beyond its obvious emotional impact, an employee’s death almost always leaves unfinished business for HR and payroll. Follow these steps to help smooth the process when you’re notified of an employee’s death …

Set one standard for tardiness, stick with it

03/31/2014
Make sure you set one standard for determining how late “tardy“ is and how it’s measured. The best bet: Use a time clock.

Obama seeks to make more employees eligible for OT

03/31/2014
President Obama on March 13 ordered the U.S. Department of Labor to propose rules to “update and modernize America’s overtime pay system, so that millions of our nation’s salaried workers will have the protections of overtime pay.”

How should we handle pay when employee works unauthorized overtime?

03/27/2014
Q. What can we do if our employees worked overtime despite our instruction that they shouldn’t?

T-shirt maker settles OT complaint for $171,000

03/27/2014
San Diego-based Fashion Graphics has agreed to pay back wages and penalties while voluntarily stopping all shipments until the $171,000 is paid to its current and former employees. The screen printer supplies such retail chains as Macy’s, Walmart, Kohl’s and Hot Topic.

Logistics firm settles wage theft allegations

03/27/2014
Mira Loma-based Schneider Logis­­tics has agreed to settle charges it cheated a group of warehouse workers out of $4.7 million in wages. The company, which handles logistics for Walmart, agreed to the settlement without admitting any wrongdoing.

Pay gap shrinking for Millennial women

03/25/2014
Each new group of young women entering the workforce over the past 30 years has started out at a higher average hourly wage relative to men. Here are the statistics on women’s earnings as a percentage of men’s, among 25-to-34-year-olds.