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FLSA

Mandatory doctor visits: Must you pay for the time?

11/01/2007

Q. We sometimes send our employees to our company doctor. Do we have to pay employees their hourly rates for their time? Also, are we responsible for any accidents that happen on the drive? —C.C., Arizona …

Federal judge decertifies FedEx Kinko’s FLSA class

11/01/2007

Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has decertified a class action in an overtime suit involving FedEx Kinko’s managers. According to Armstrong, the 490 “center managers” in California were executive employees and therefore exempt from overtime pay under California law in spite of the fact that they reported to other FedEx Kinko officials …

AIG hit with overtime lawsuit disputing exempt status

11/01/2007

Two New Jersey claims adjusters for AIG Inc. in New York City have filed a class-action lawsuit against the insurer alleging it improperly classified them as exempt from overtime pay …

FMLA claims just got tougher for employers

11/01/2007

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has decided that waiving employers’ past violations of the FMLA requires approval from a court or the U.S. Labor Department. That gives employees a leg up if they sue their employers for violating the FMLA. At the heart of the case is an FMLA regulation that states, “Employees cannot waive their rights under FMLA” …

Minimum wage in North Carolina

11/01/2007

Q. What is the minimum wage for North Carolina employees? Is it different than the federal minimum wage? …

Wal-Mart hit for another $62 million in back wages

11/01/2007

You may remember the big employee win against Wal-Mart. A class-action lawsuit under Pennsylvania’s wage-and-hour law made national headlines when the retailer was zapped for allegedly allowing employees to work “off the clock.” Now the news has gotten much worse for the company—$62.3 million worse, to be exact …

Dock pay as part of discipline?

11/01/2007

Q. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, may I dock an employee’s pay as a disciplinary penalty? …

Misclassification yields million-Dollar settlement for janitors

11/01/2007

A federal judge recently gave final approval to a settlement of a wage-and-hour lawsuit involving 500 primarily Latino janitors in San Antonio, Dallas and Chicago. Judge Amy St. Eve of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois approved a $1,138,000 settlement compensating workers who were employed through Contract Cleaning Maintenance Inc. …

FLSA governs employment of minors

11/01/2007

Q. My company often receives applications in the summer months from teens looking for temporary jobs. Are there any requirements that I should be aware of before hiring a minor?—J.S. …

Is it time to stop tracking employees’ vacation time?

10/09/2007

Plenty of companies use paid time off banks in lieu of rigid leave plans that designate a specific number of days for vacation, sick and personal time off. Now newer leave plans are going even further, doing away with the concept of tracking leave time altogether. Weigh the pros and cons when deciding whether unlimited leave is right for your organization.