In an effort to boost profits and meet the changing needs of an increasingly diverse employee population, U.S. employers are offering flexible work benefits that go beyond telecommuting. HR directors at organizations that offer employees flextime, compressed workweeks, shift flexibility, job sharing, and sabbaticals, are reporting that these programs are proving to be cost-effective morale boosters that benefit company bottom lines

Last year, employers paid out nearly $180 million in back wages to more than 208,000 employees in minimum wage and overtime claims as a result of federal wage and hour law violations. With the number of complaints registered increasing more than 34% from 2008 to 2010 (24,000 to 32,000 cases annually), this trend is expected to grow again in 2011.

Establishing discipline procedures is critical to the effective enforcement of work rules. Progressive discipline is a discipline system where the severity of the penalty increases each time an employee breaks the rules. Typically the progression is from oral warnings to written warnings and finally to termination of employment.

Is it ok to dock Billy’s pay if he comes to work late every day because the goldfish frowned at him? Can you dock Suzy’s paycheck is she leaves work early every day to buy lottery tickets? Well, the answer is…

Employees talk about a lot of things at work – who’s going to win “Dancing with the Stars”, which team won the game last night, who’s had plastic surgery – and how much money they are getting paid.  Many companies have policies against employees discussing their pay.  These policies violate federal labor law.  The National [...]

The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requires employers with 50 or more employees to grant eligible employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave. Once an employer receives preliminary information that employees’ absences from work might qualify as FMLA leave, they should ask employees to provide more information in order to make a [...]

Independent contractors are individuals who perform work for your company but aren’t legally employees therefore aren’t entitled to many of the legal protections accorded to employees under law. There’s no federal law that clearly distinguishes employees from independent contractors, but the Internal Revenue Service has developed a set of criteria you can apply to help you [...]