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Employment Law

Independent contractor crackdown isn’t just words

06/25/2010
“The battle lines are drawn,” said Greg Guidry, attorney at Onebane Law Firm in Louisiana. “Federal and state agencies are absolutely intent on cracking down on independent contractor misclassification. You have an increased chance of being audited this year and next year.”

How should we calculate OT when paying bonuses based on previous performance?

06/24/2010
Q. Our company pays monthly bonuses to hourly employees based on the previous month’s performance. When calculating overtime, should the bonus pay be included only for the weekly payroll that contains those bonuses, or does it change the overtime rate for other weekly pay periods as well?

Will proposed legislation put us on the financial hook for misclassified employees?

06/24/2010
Q. If, according to the revised Employee Misclassification Prevention Act, we’ve been improperly classifying certain employees, do we need to go back and reimburse them? At the time, we thought they were properly classified.

Are we vulnerable to reverse discrimination claims because of our ‘early out’ program?

06/24/2010
Q. Are there any specific rules defining “early out” retirement packages offered to employees? Our company is planning to offer early outs. Our criteria mandate that an employee must have worked for us for at least 15 years and be at least 50 years old. But we have employees who have worked as long as 28 years who fail to meet the 50-year-old criterion. Is this age discrimination in a reverse sort of way?

In health care? Get ready for federal affirmative action scrutiny

06/24/2010

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) has a bigger budget and more staffing this year, and intends to audit federal government contractors or subcontractors that have 50 or more employees and a contract or subcontract of at least $50,000. And the OFCCP can be expected to increase its scrutiny on health care providers that are contractors or subcontractors for the government.

Temp service settles sex harassment case in Butler

06/24/2010
The temporary-services agency ADECCO USA has settled a string of sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuits filed by women assigned to work at Pittsburgh Plastics Manufacturing’s facility in Butler.

Hershey extracts union concessions for new plant

06/24/2010
When the Hershey Co. decided to stop making chocolate at its 106-year-old factory in the heart of Hershey, the company faced the choice: Move all 1,500 jobs to other states, or cut about one-third of those positions and move the remaining workforce three miles to a more modern plant. Hershey asked the Chocolate Workers Union Local 464 to accept a seven-year contract that sacrificed some jobs while boosting pay for remaining workers.

Hiring contractors? Let them work for others, too

06/24/2010
If you use independent contractors, make sure they have the freedom to work for other clients and largely set their own schedules. Those criteria are important for determining whether someone is eligible for unemployment.

After FMLA, OK to reassign worker who can’t do old job

06/24/2010

An employee who takes FMLA leave is entitled to return to her old job or an equivalent one when she’s ready to return to work. But what if the employee can’t perform her old job, perhaps because of lingering health problems? Reassign her.

Set up standard process for responding to accommodations requests–and use it every time

06/24/2010
One of the quickest roads to the courthouse is to ignore or brush off a disabled employee’s request for accommodations. At least investigate the possibilities before denying a request.