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Wages & Hours

Is it legal to pay just a partial day’s pay for employees who work less than a full shift?

12/09/2009

Q. We scheduled an hourly employee to work a full day, but he worked only part of the day because we didn’t have enough for him to do. With the slowdown in our business, we expect this will be happening with this and other employees more frequently.Do we have to pay hourly employees for a full day of work or just the actual number of hours worked?

The do’s and don’ts of giving and receiving holiday gifts

12/01/2009

Q. Are there any legal issues regarding employee gift-giving during the holidays? What about giving or getting gifts from vendors?

How to hand out holiday bonuses

12/01/2009

Q. I started a business a few years ago, but this is the first year that I actually have an office with employees. I would like to give them holiday bonuses this year. What are the legal guidelines I should follow?

Workers want longer days, shorter weeks? Lower hourly pay may dodge OT obligations

12/01/2009

Sometimes, employees prefer to work longer than eight hours a day in exchange for more days off. Ordinarily, changing schedules to accommodate such a request would mean paying overtime for the additional hours in excess of eight per day under California law. But now, in a unique case, the 9th Circuit has ruled that, in limited circumstances, changing the hourly rate for those who want the longer shifts doesn’t violate the law …

What can we do? We accidentally overpaid an employee who was out on workers’ comp leave

12/01/2009

Q. While one of our employees was on workers’ compensation leave, she received disability payments. Due to a clerical error, we failed to take her off the payroll during that time, and she continued to receive her regular paychecks while on leave. The employee now refuses to sign an agreement to return the money on a payment schedule we were willing to set up. As a result, we would like to dock her pay for the overpayments. Are we allowed to do so?

Can an employee opt out of mandatory breaks?

12/01/2009

Q. An employee has asked to work through his two daily 10-minute rest periods because he would like to leave work 20 minutes early. Are we permitted to implement this arrangement upon his request?

Family Dollar: 1 win, 1 loss in overtime litigation

12/01/2009

Discounts are scarce for retailer Family Dollar, which will begin paying out an estimated $35 million to employees it misclassified as exempt from overtime laws in Alabama. A similar case in North Carolina resulted in a Family Dollar victory.

Nursing home plays doctor, will pay for pregnancy bias

12/01/2009

Charlotte-based Lawyers Glen retirement home has agreed to pay $20,000 to settle a pregnancy discrimination complaint brought by one of its nursing aides. When Ashley Wilhelm told her supervisor she was pregnant, she soon found herself working fewer hours. The reduction continued throughout her pregnancy, even though her physician certified she could work full time up until she gave birth.

If employees leave because of bad weather, must we pay them for a whole day’s work?

12/01/2009

Q. Do we have to pay our employees for a full day’s work when they leave early due to bad weather?

Can we take away accrued vacation leave?

12/01/2009

Q. Some of our employees have accrued large amounts of vacation pay because they have worked here for many years. Can we strip this vacation pay at the end of the year?