Tag: FLSA

Checklist for Unpaid Internship Programs

Internship programs can provide advantages for both employers and interns, but many internships risk running afoul of state and federal laws. Employers can end up on the hook for significant amounts in unpaid wages, employment taxes, and penalties. To avoid these unintended consequences, review the checklist below.

When Employees Come Armed with Data About Dollars

Of course, it may be that your compensation program is flawed, but it’s more likely that the survey the employee is referencing is flawed or inappropriate, says Brown of Effective Resources, Inc., who delivered his tips at a recent BLR-sponsored webinar. It may be a bad survey that just wasn’t done well, or it may […]

Government Guidance on Paid and Unpaid Internships

“Every spring, as college students nationwide prepare for finals and pull all-nighters to wrap up their spring semesters, many simultaneously ramp up their search for the perfect internship,” says Laura Fortman, principal deputy administrator of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD) in a blog. “The WHD understands that these “foot-in-the-door” […]

Lombardi: ‘Coaching Is Teaching’—Oswald: ‘So’s Management’

What About the Manager as a Teacher? If you take Lombardi’s words and change “coaching” to “managing,” it would go something like this: “I think managing is teaching, see? So I don’t think there’s any difference whether you teach in the office or whether you teach in the classroom. They’re both exactly the same. It’s […]

Hitting the Team Member Trifecta—Not Easy, But Necessary

In a recent conversation with an organizational psychologist, I was asked, “What are the top three things you look for in the members of your management team?” That’s a big and important question. Yet I was able to answer it quickly and easily: “Trustworthiness, compatibility, and talent.” The next sentence I uttered might surprise you; […]

Penalties Await Plans That Ignore ACA’s High-litigation Risks

Employers have cited complying with the Affordable Care Act as their number one concern in surveys, and that wouldn’t be the case if there weren’t taxes and money penalties backing it up. This is true even though the government postponed until 2015 penalties for failure to comply with the ACA’s play-or-pay mandates, temporarily reducing the […]

My Salaried Employee Has No PTO But Needs Time Off—What Can I Do?

Employers often find themselves in a conundrum, however, over how to handle miscellaneous time off that was never even requested as PTO. For example, what happens when the work hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., but an employee has a personal appointment that requires him or her to arrive late? Usually this is not […]

Got an 800-Pound Gorilla? Confrontation Time

One of the national hotel chains, in an attempt to attract business travelers, advertises that if you stay at its hotels, you’ll be able to take on “the 800-pound gorilla in the room.” The ad shows Regional Manager Amy, after spending a night in one of the hotels, being able to tame the chest-pounding 800-pound […]

Practical Examples: FMLA to Care for Children 18 and Above

My 20-year-old daughter has been put on bed rest because of her high-risk pregnancy. I am the only one available to care for her. Can I take FMLA leave for this reason? Maybe. In order to take FMLA leave to care for your adult daughter, she must be incapable of self-care due to a disability […]