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Compensation & Benefits

Can we make worker pay for broken merchandise?

12/08/2014
Q. One of our employees dropped a case of expensive merchandise while stocking the shelves of our store. It caused a loss of several hundred dollars. Can we deduct the cost of the merchandise from his paycheck?

Contractor can’t plaster over pay violations

12/08/2014
A plastering company in Ceres, California has agreed to patch things up with 208 current and former employees following a U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation. The employees of Ace Commercial Plastering will receive $131,953 in back pay, the amount WHD concluded the company had sanded off their paychecks.

Let it snow! But make sure you know how to pay employees

12/08/2014
Parts of New York were inundated with feet of snow well before Thanksgiving. Buffalo businesses have dug out from under the lake effect by now, but they may still be dealing with lingering pay issues. Will you be similarly affected—and are your pay policies ready?

Exotic dancers win millions–and could take home even more

12/08/2014
Dancers at Rick’s Cabaret, a strip club in Midtown Manhattan, just collected more than $10 million following a federal court ruling, and could make even more if an ongoing lawsuit continues to go their way.

AT&T settles OT dispute

12/08/2014
AT&T Prime Communications, one of the nation’s largest cellphone plan providers, will pay $122,254 to 255 workers to settle charges it failed to pay them for overtime work.

Live from New York, it’s a seven-figure settlement

12/08/2014
NBC has agreed to settle Fair Labor Standards Act lawsuit filed by interns who worked on “Saturday Night Live.” The interns filed a class-action lawsuit against the network last year, alleging that NBC used interns in place paid workers, a practice the FLSA forbids.

Quitting in anticipation of being fired bars benefits

12/08/2014
An employee who quits because he thinks he may be fired isn’t usually eligible for unemployment benefits. If there was still work available, quitting would have been unreasonable.

Labor costs hold steady in ’12 Days of Christmas’

12/06/2014
More evidence that wages have flat-lined: The human capital costs involved in checking off every item on the “12 Days of Christmas” wish list barely budged this year, according to PNC Wealth Management.

When employees miss meal breaks, know how to handle pay

12/05/2014
In many businesses, employees occasionally must work through their regularly scheduled meal breaks. When this occurs, employers must either provide another time slot for their breaks or pay employees for the time worked. To properly handle meal breaks, employers must have a system in place that allows them to know when an employee is working through a meal break so that the time can be credited properly.

Office gift-giving: 4 tips to make the season bright

12/05/2014
With holiday gifts to employees, good intentions can quickly turn into sticky situations.