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Wages & Hours

Q&A: Thanks for the two-Week notice … Now clean out your desk

09/01/2007

Q. If an employee resigns and gives two weeks’ notice, can the employer tell the worker that he or she is not needed for the two weeks and avoid paying the person for that time? …

Ignoring lawsuits can cost employers big bucks

09/01/2007

Nothing makes a former employee’s attorney sing for joy more than an employer that ignores a lawsuit. In fact, when employers ignore lawsuits and hope they will go away, it’s almost certain the attorney—and the employee the attorney represents—will have a fast and easy payday. That’s why you should immediately contact counsel with any legal papers that come your way …

Without clause, employers can’t escape paying full wages

09/01/2007

When it comes to employment contracts, it’s wise to include an escape clause. Here’s why: If you don’t specify that you can terminate the contract early and then find yourself having to eliminate the employee, you may have to pay that employee the full amount he or she would have earned working the entire term of the contract …

Prompt wage payment required—Including actually having money in the bank

09/01/2007

Employers must pay their employees on payday—and make sure the money is in the bank. Otherwise, they risk liability for double the amount due as liquidated damages under the Fair Labor Standards Act …

East Point car dealer shoots, kills two who requested raises

09/01/2007

A suburban Atlanta car dealer has confessed to fatally shooting his two sole employees because they asked for raises. Rolandas Milinavicius opened RM Auto International in East Point two years ago to export American cars to his native Lithuania. Fed up with his employees’ frequent demands for more money, Milinavicius said he snapped on the morning of July 31 when they approached him for a raise …

Judge reverses decision after Labor Dept. issues opinion letter

09/01/2007

A federal judge has overturned his earlier decision in a Fair Labor Standards Act case involving several women who had been hired to sell houses in a new subdivision. The women claimed Brayson Homes owed them overtime and minimum wages …

Ball Aerospace picks up $593,092 lunch tab for nonexempt employees

09/01/2007

Ball Aerospace and Technologies will pay $976,327 to 904 employees in Colorado, New Mexico, Ohio, Georgia and the District of Columbia for unpaid wages. Ball, a Broomfield, CO-based aerospace defense contractor, operates a facility in the city of Warner Robins supporting Robins Air Force Base …

Georgia ‘Donning and doffing’ case headed to high court?

09/01/2007

You may remember that the U.S. Supreme Court decided a donning and doffing case about a year ago. That might have been the end of the matter. But nothing is simple when it comes to employment law. Recently, a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that workers cannot demand pay for time spent donning and doffing their uniforms in most circumstances …

Pay raises near 3.8% in ’08; more firms use bonuses

09/01/2007

A trio of new salary surveys from top consulting firms—Mercer, Hewitt and WorldatWork—predict that U.S. employers will dole out annual pay raises of about 3.8% in 2008, about the same level as this year …

Travel time normally not payable

09/01/2007

Q. Do I have to pay my employees for travel time? …