Wages & Hours

Hiring summer interns? Keep it legal, dude

04/01/2003

Expect a bumper crop of eager interns this summer, thanks in part to the still-struggling economy. While internships can be a win/win situation for employers and students, …

Set Policy, Check State Law for ‘Snow Day’ Pay

04/01/2003

Q. An ice storm recently knocked out power in 87 percent of the city. Our company had no power from Sunday until Wednesday. Some hourly employees showed up to work Monday because they live in surrounding counties and didn’t know about the outage. Are we obligated to pay those who showed up but were unable to work? —D.K., Kentucky

Audit your classifications before requiring overtime

04/01/2003

Q. What are the legal ramifications of requiring all employees to work a minimum of 45 hours a week (nine hours a day)? Everyone in the office is an exempt employee. —S.M., New Jersey

Don’t Require Direct Deposit

04/01/2003

Q. Can a business require employees to use direct deposit of paychecks? —N.C., Kansas

Fast fix to FLSA error can save you, but ‘correction window’ closes fast

03/01/2003

If you screw up on a Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) pay issue, don’t count on the “window of corrections” to save you. Sure, this Labor Department rule allows you to …

Offset bonus pay against weekly overtime with care

02/01/2003

Fabri-Centers gave workers several bonus payments above their base pay, including shift differentials, holiday pay and spot bonuses. But the company calculated employees’…

FLSA, FMLA enforcement reaches record highs

02/01/2003

If you thought the regulatory watchdogs would become lap dogs under the Bush administration, you were wrong. In fiscal 2002, the U.S. Labor Department collected $143 …

Supreme Court upholds pro-union fund-raising tactic

02/01/2003

In a victory for unions, the Supreme Court recently let stand a lower court ruling that said employees can be forced to pay mandatory dues for union organizing that occurs …

When to Pay for On-Call Time

02/01/2003

Q. When do we have to count “on-call” time as hours worked?—L.G., California

Employees can refuse to work due to safety fears, even at nonunion site

01/01/2003

Three apartment maintenance workers refused to scrape and paint a water-damaged ceiling after they saw a TV report on airborne-asbestos health risks. When they voiced a concern, their supervisor said there …