• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

FLSA

Failure to provide for breaks will cost $25 million

12/24/2008

Federated Department Stores has agreed to settle charges that it denied meal and rest breaks to Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s department store employees. According to the settlement, Federated will pay $25 million to 200,000 employees.

New law eliminates OT for highly paid computer professionals

12/24/2008

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a bill that will eliminate overtime pay for certain computer professionals. Assembly Bill 10 creates an overtime exemption for computer professionals working in California who are engaged in “intellectual or creative” work …

Kaiser settles wage-and-hour suit for $5.4 million

12/24/2008

The Kaiser Foundation Health Plan has agreed to settle a class-action wage-and-hour lawsuit brought by 770 California employees. Under the terms of the settlement, Kaiser agreed to pay $5.4 million, $3.7 million of which will go directly to the class members who claimed they were misclassified …

Court not sold that SEPTA is ‘arm of the state’

12/24/2008

A bus driver recently sued the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), claiming she and all others like her had been paid less than they were entitled to. SEPTA tried to get out of the lawsuit by saying it was an arm of the state, and therefore immune from Fair Labor Standards Act claims.

BlackBerry time: When must you pay for employees’ off-duty PDA hours?

12/24/2008

Hand-held devices, such as BlackBerrys, Trios, iPhones, etc., make it easy for workers to check e-mail and do work at any time of day. And your nonexempt, hourly workers may demand to be paid for that screen-time. So, when must your organization pay nonexempt employees for such off-the-clock work? There’s no clear-cut answer.

Do we have to grant paid leave for time an employee will spend testifying in court?

12/24/2008

Q. An employee has been subpoenaed to appear as a witness in a criminal case. Are we required to pay him for that time, or can we have him take vacation time or an unpaid leave of absence?

Must we pay for short smoking breaks?

12/18/2008

Q. Would a brief clock-out (initiated by the employee) of less than 20 minutes, such as an impromptu smoking break or personal phone call break, need to be paid as work time? The company accepts such impromptu clock-out breaks without prior supervisor approval.

Can we deduct personal leave for exempt worker’s partial-day absence?

12/18/2008

Q. Some of our supervisors make their exempt employees take personal or sick leave for every minute they miss from work, even if they work a regular schedule the rest of the week. Can we safely do that?

Go ahead and settle overtime cases, but know what you’re buying when you do

12/09/2008

If an employee thinks he isn’t being properly paid for overtime, expect a lawsuit. You may be able to settle such a case—at a price. It will likely be expensive, covering attorneys’ fees as well as the lost wages. Plus, the court will carefully scrutinize the settlement to make sure it’s fair.

DOL gets free pass when suing employers for wage violations

12/09/2008

Employers, beware: The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has just made it much easier for the DOL to file lawsuits against employers. All the DOL needs to do is file a complaint alleging unpaid wages.