Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Pay the minimum wage and pay overtime where due—how hard could it be? Wage and hour should be simple, but it’s just not. We’ve identified the 10 most common “sins” managers and supervisors commit in paying—or not paying—employees what they are owed. Sin #1. Failure to pay the minimum wage We’ll pay you $5 […]
Can You Ask About Retirement Plans? Can you ask older employees about their retirement plans? Yes, if you are careful, says BLR® Senior Legal Editor Joan Farrell. But push too hard and it starts to look like age discrimination. If an employer has a legitimate reason, like workforce planning or succession planning, it’s not a […]
Can You Ask About Retirement Plans? Can you ask older employees about their retirement plans? Yes, if you are careful, says BLR® Senior Legal Editor Joan Farrell. But push too hard and it starts to look like age discrimination. If an employer has a legitimate reason, like workforce planning or succession planning, it’s not a […]
While salary level may be a legitimate factor in determining which employees to lay off, it cannot be the determining factor if it adversely affects older workers, says Tinnin, who is a partner with Tinnin Law Firm in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and editor of New Mexico Employment Law Letter. In 2005, he adds, the U.S. […]
[ go here for the first three T’s] Training Training is a reward. Top people want to keep their skills up and you need them to believe that the organization cares about keeping employee skills up to date. Development is both a management responsibility and an employee reward. What If We Train and They Leave? […]
“Voluntarily Give Their Discretionary Effort” Some employees do just enough not to get fired; that’s not going to do it for you, says Katz. You want employees to “voluntarily give their discretionary effort.” Katz, who is with Penguin Human Resource Consulting, LLC, offered his tips in a recent BLR-sponsored webinar. The Unlimited Rewards Budget Who […]
In the Hibachi Grill & Supreme Buffet case, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has sued to recover nearly $2 million in unpaid wages and damages for 84 employees.
HR’s watchdog agencies—the DOL, EEOC, and OFCCP—are looking at a new variant on discrimination they call “steering.” It’s not immediate discrimination, but long-range discrimination. What Is Steering? “Steering” may be charged when people in a protected class are “steered” to jobs with lower long-term potential than other similar jobs. For example, in a grocery store, […]
Collective wage/hour suits can turn relatively small and inexpensive problems into very large and very expensive ones, but there may be a technique that makes the collective action moot, says Attorney Deanna Brinkerhoff. In Genesis Healthcare Corp. v. Symczyk, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that, at least in this case, action by the employer to […]
On Jan. 27, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that time U.S. Steel Corp. employees spend donning and doffing protective gear is not compensable under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The ruling affirmed a 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Sandifer et al v. U.S. Steel Corp. (No. 12-417). Sandifer dealt with whether time steel workers spent […]