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Wages & Hours

What are the rules for compensating nonexempts for overnight travel?

08/07/2013
Q. Several of our employees will be required to travel to another state for a seminar. What’s the rule for compensating nonexempt employees who take overnight business trips?

Which country is the world’s hardest-working?

07/29/2013
We do a good job of keeping our noses to the grindstone here in the United States, where the average employee puts in 1,798 hours per year. But we’ve got nothing on the world’s hardest-working industrialized countries.

What do we need to consider when crafting a policy on unpaid intern injuries?

07/26/2013
Q. We recently started to provide unpaid internship opportunities to local college students… The interns are not subject to the same process as other permanent or temporary employees in terms of background checks and workers’ compensation insurance. Now we’re looking at how best to structure this relationship to address issues such as what happens if an intern is hurt at a client facility. How should we approach this?

Reporting-time pay: What if it’s clear employee is in no condition to work?

07/23/2013
Q. Does California’s reporting-time pay law apply to workers who report to work but appear to be unable or unfit to work?

How should we pay for overnight travel?

07/23/2013
Q. I know that the laws on overnight travel time are more restrictive in California than under federal law. Does the overnight travel rule under federal law apply in California or does an employer have to pay all travel time even if overnight travel is involved?

California Labor Department strategy shift benefits workers

07/23/2013
By focusing on wage theft and retaliation claims instead of broad enforcement efforts, California’s Labor Department has managed to assess more than $51 million in civil penalties against businesses found to be in violation of state labor laws.

Despite high-profile cases, class-action waivers still aren’t silver bullets in California

07/23/2013
For years, many California courts refused to enforce class-action waivers, exposing California businesses to class-action liability regardless of any agreement with employees or customers to forgo class litigation. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion was supposed to change all that. It didn’t.

California court to decide key arbitration case

07/23/2013
In an important decision on whether employers can limit an employee’s access to an administrative hearing on wage claims, the California Supreme Court has ordered the parties to file supplemental briefs in light of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision. In American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant, the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed its long-standing rule that arbitration clauses under the Federal Arbitration Act will be enforced.

Minuscule U.S. pay growth trounces rest of world

07/23/2013
The United States may be mired in a tepid economic recovery, but it’s worse in other countries. One indicator: In 12 of 13 industrial economies surveyed by the nonprofit WorldatWork organization, real salary budgets declined from 2012 to 2013.

Lounge, exotic dancers agree to settle classification lawsuit

07/17/2013
Lure, a “gentlemen’s club” in Min­ne­­apolis, has agreed to pay $300,000 to settle a class-action lawsuit with its exotic dancers, who claimed they were employees, not independent contractors as Lure had contended.