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Wages & Hours

Must we allow employee smoking breaks?

01/01/2008

Q. We have a number of employees who smoke cigarettes and want to take breaks in order to light up. Is an employee entitled to smoking breaks during the workday? …

Indianapolis company accused of breaking Muslim sharia law

01/01/2008

HDG Mansur, a multinational property company based in Indianapolis, is poised to launch the first global real estate investment fund compliant with Islamic sharia law. But the firm has drawn complaints from a U.S. imam, Indiana clergy and unions …

Talk about getting ‘Scrooged’

01/01/2008

Shortly after South Bend Plastics of Mishawaka sold its injection molding facility in Alabama to a Muscle Shoals, AL, man, the general manager was fired and paychecks began to bounce …

Aside from normal overtime, is there such a thing as mandatory holiday pay?

01/01/2008

Q. Our business has recently started staying open on certain national holidays, including Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. One of our employees was adamant that he was entitled to “holiday pay” for the time he worked on Thanksgiving, which he maintained was equal to 150% of his normal wage, even though he was not entitled to overtime that week. Do we have to pay a premium wage to employees who work on a federal holiday? …

Can managers make changes on time sheets?

01/01/2008
Q. Is it illegal for managers to change the time sheets of employees—either exempt or nonexempt—if they neglect to indicate a day off, etc.?

IRS Revenue Ruling 87-41

12/30/2007
Rev. Rul. 87-41 1987-1 C.B. 296. Internal Revenue Service Revenue Ruling EMPLOYMENT STATUS UNDER SECTION 530(D) OF THE REVENUE ACT OF 1978 Published: 1987 Section 3121.-Definitions, 26 CFR 31.3121(d)-1: Who are employees. (Also Sections 3306, 3401; 31.3306(i)-1, 31.3401(c)-1.)   Employment status under section 530(d) of the Revenue Act of 1978. Guidelines are set forth for determining […]

Consider paying for lunch breaks to avoid overtime claims

12/01/2007

Overtime lawsuits are becoming an epidemic. Lawyers file class-action lawsuits at the first hint that employees worked “off the clock,” either before the workday started or by working through parts of their unpaid lunch periods. There’s a simple way to avoid problems …

 

Like a nice, informal timekeeping system?

12/01/2007

The city of Akron will have to sell bonds to cover a $985,000 settlement with two former workers in the permits and plans division. The employees sued after the city destroyed a cache of the women’s time sheets showing comp time owed for extra hours they worked …

Prohibiting salary talk

12/01/2007

Q. It has always been a rule in our workplace that employees’ individual compensation information is to be kept confidential and is not to be discussed with co-workers. I recently had to write up one of my employees for violating this policy. That employee told me that my rule prohibiting discussion of wage information is illegal. Is this true? …

Ohio minimum wage and part-Year workplace

12/01/2007

Q. We operate an outside recreational facility that is only operational for three months a year. Our attorney has advised us that we are not required to pay the current Ohio minimum wage or overtime wage rate as stipulated on the Ohio minimum wage poster. I thought that all Ohio employers were required to pay the minimum wage rate and overtime, and do not want to violate the law. Is our attorney’s advice correct? …