Last week, outgoing Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez released a farewell “Memorandum to the American People.” It mostly reads as a recap of the DOL’s news releases over the past several years, touting various DOL initiatives and advocating for further changes, like increasing the minimum wage and mandating paid family leave. The memo
When Paying Accrued “Vacation” at Termination, Labels Don’t Matter [Wage & Hour FAQs]
In recent years, I have noticed a movement away from the traditional categories of “vacation” and “sick” leave and holidays to hybrids like PTO, holiday hours, and personal days. While those new categories provide greater flexibility to employees and apparent ease as to record-keeping, they also complicate the question for employers about whether those accrued
Wage and Hour 2014 Election Results Roundup: Minimum Wage, Paid Sick Leave Big Winners
Before the election, we talked about minimum wage and paid sick leave initiatives on the rise, including some important ballot issues. With most of the results tallied, it appears that the Republicans weren’t the only big winners in the 2014 midterm elections last night. While the GOP retaking the Senate majority and reaching historic
DOL Backs Paid Leave Push in 3 States, D.C. with $500,000 Grant
Recently, we detailed the efforts to push for paid sick leave by state and local governments in light of California’s passage of a statewide paid leave law. Soon after our post, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau Director Latifa Lyles posted an entry on the DOL’s official “Work in Progress” blog, advocating for
California Becomes Second State to Offer Paid Sick Leave
Over the holiday weekend, California became only the second state (after Connecticut, which began granting paid sick leave in 2012 and just passed more tweaks to it) to guarantee at least some annual paid sick leave for most full and part-time employees. Assuming Governor Brown signs the bill, California’s law would be the tenth
Voting Leave for Election Day
As mentioned in a recent FR alert, “Time Off to Vote?,” written by my colleague Sally J. Scott, Illinois requires employers to allow employees who are eligible to vote up to two hours of paid time off while polls are open (from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.) on Election Day. For wage
Does An Exempt Employee Who Calls In Sick The Day Before Thanksgiving Get Holiday Pay? [Wage & Hour FAQ]
Q. Our holiday pay policy says that employees must be at work the day before and the day after a holiday. Our office is closed Thursday and Friday for Thanksgiving. If an exempt employee works Monday and Tuesday but calls in “sick” on Wednesday, can we deny the employee holiday pay?
A. Many employers have
Exempt Employees, Paid Leave, and Partial Day Absences [Webinar Q&A]
Another in our series of answers to questions from our September 28 webinar on wage and hour law in higher education:
Q. If an exempt employee only works a half day, i.e. they go home sick at noon, and they have both sick and vacation leave available, can we require that they use four