Wages & Hours

New tip rules: Prepare for a deep dive into the tip pool

08/06/2018

Employers have long been allowed to pay tipped employees less than the usual minimum wage. In some industries, tips have traditionally been pooled, so “back-of-the-house” staff can share in customers’ generosity. But the informality of tipping means it is a surprisingly complicated wage-and-hour issue.

Snapshot: Salary budgets inch upward

07/31/2018

U.S. employers are expected to budget for pay raises averaging 3.2% in 2019.

Time clock rounding case offers lessons on compensable time

07/30/2018

If you use a rounding system, take care to ensure that it is fair and neutral, and that, on average, the amount of employee time that is deducted is the same or less than the amount added to time records as time worked.

Economy is booming, but when will wages rise?

07/17/2018

With low unemployment and a growing GDP, Americans are feeling much more comfortable about the economy. Yet a concerning trend lurks underneath an otherwise booming economy: slow wage growth.

Follow rules to set alternative workweek schedule

05/30/2018

California wage-and-hour law can be complicated. For example, California allows establishment of something called alternative workweek schedules. Employees have to approve an AWS by voting via a secret ballot.

Tip pooling: What’s fair and reasonable?

05/30/2018

Under California Labor Code section 351, employers may pool tips and distribute them in a manner that is “fair and reasonable.” What that means in practice depends on the circumstances.

Some DOL ‘prevailing wage’ scales based on data from the 1980s

05/29/2018

The U.S. Department of Labor, which is in charge of enforcing the Davis Bacon Act, is setting prevailing wages for some occupations based on data collected more than 30 years ago.

Fix it fast: How to handle an uncashed paycheck

05/17/2018

Your options: You can either void uncashed checks or hold them open on your books. Hiccup: Banks generally won’t honor checks that are older than six months, so your employees won’t be happy either.

SEIU slashes ‘Fight for $15’ funding

04/03/2018

Union funding to organize fast-food employees was cut in half last year, according to a new study by the conservative Center for Union Facts.

DOL launches internal probe: Was tip pool data suppressed?

02/13/2018

The Department of Labor’s Office of the Inspector General is investigating allegations that Labor Secretary Alex Acosta ordered DOL staffers to quash internal research showing that a proposed rule allowing tip pooling in the hospitality industry would cost employees $5.8 billion per year.