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Wages & Hours

9th Circuit: Pharma reps are salespeople

03/22/2011
Typically, federal courts tend to uphold the U.S. Department of Labor’s interpretations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. But now the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected the DOL’s interpretation of what it means to be an outside salesperson under the FLSA.

Firing hourly worker? Starbucks’ big win shows how to handle wage statements and pay

03/22/2011
Terminating an employee is never easy. But thanks to a recent California Court of Appeal decision, at least you don’t have to worry about wage statement violations—if you follow the common sense guidelines the court announced.

37 ways to lower your health care costs

03/22/2011
Average employer-paid health benefit costs have increased about 6% per year for the last five years. At least in the short term, the year-old health care reform law may make the problem even worse. All the more reason to act now to get your health care costs under control. One of the most effective ways: conducting a dependent audit to make sure the people you’re covering are actually eligible for insurance benefits.

Survey: Miami restaurant staff underpaid, lack benefits

03/16/2011
Almost two out of five restaurant workers in the Miami area make so little that they fall below the poverty line, according to a new survey by the Restaurant Opportunities Center of Miami and Florida International University.

Extremely small businesses may not be bound by FLSA minimum wage, overtime rules

03/16/2011

Almost everyone assumes that all employees are covered by the federal FLSA. But in some rare circumstances, employees in very small and distinctly local businesses may not be entitled to minimum wage or overtime. If the business does not earn at least $500,000 in gross annual revenue—the minimum for an entire enterprise to be covered by the FLSA—then some employees may not be covered either.

Regularly review FLSA exempt/nonexempt status

03/16/2011
Perhaps nothing strikes more fear in an HR manager’s heart than learning that employees have filed a class-action wage-and-hour lawsuit alleging they were improperly classified as exempt employees. Your best defense is to be proactive about pay issues. Conduct regular reviews to make sure positions throughout your organization are properly classified as hourly or salaried.

Must we pay for lactation breaks?

03/14/2011
Q. Are employers required to pay employees for break time taken under the Nursing Mothers Law?

What are the new rules affecting breastfeeding?

03/14/2011
Q. What does the Break Time for Nursing Mothers Law (also known as the Nursing Mothers Law) contained in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) require of employers?

Must we pay for lactation breaks?

03/14/2011
Q. We run a manufacturing plant. Our break policy allows employees to take up to two breaks each shift to use the restroom. As long as the employees return to their posts within 10 minutes, the breaks are paid. We have an employee who is nursing and using her breaks to express breast milk. This usually takes about 15 minutes each break. Can we treat these breaks as unpaid?

Is it OK to pay an exempt employee an hourly wage for taking on nonexempt work?

03/14/2011
Q. We recently advertised internally for a current employee to do six to eight hours per week of office cleaning for an hourly wage. An exempt employee responded indicating that he would like the extra pay. Is it OK to pay him the hourly rate for his share of the cleaning work in addition to his salary?