Employers can’t use prior salary history to justify paying employees less than their opposite-sex colleagues, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has confirmed. The federal Equal Pay Act (EPA) allows employers to explain pay differences between men and women performing equal work by pointing to seniority, merit, production, or any “factor other than…
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Question: Our policy requires employees to work their last scheduled day before a holiday and first scheduled day after a holiday in order to be eligible for holiday pay. In the past, some employees have called in sick when they were scheduled to work the day before or after a…
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The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has updated its guidance on the “regular rate” requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Under the FLSA, employers must pay workers overtime of at least one-and-a-half times the “regular rate” for hours worked beyond 40 hours per workweek. The regular rate could just be a worker’s normal…
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On December 11, 2019, Washington’s Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) announced major changes to Washington’s minimum salary requirements for exempt workers and to the “duties test” for executive, administrative, and professional workers, which will be effective July 1, 2020. As Vigilant previously reported, when L&I first proposed these rules, Vigilant submitted comments suggesting…
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The Oregon Court of Appeals has ruled that employers have a duty to ensure that workers actually take the meal periods required by state regulations. With limited exceptions, the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI)’s regulations on meal and rest periods require employers to provide a 30-minute unpaid meal period for…
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The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) says it needs time to analyze the 2017 and 2018 data on worker pay and hours it’s currently collecting, and therefore doesn’t intend to ask for such data in future years. The agency has also come to the conclusion that it grossly underestimated the amount of…
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Question: Our plant manager asked the managers of the other operations in our business park to share what they’re paying for forklift operators and what they’re planning for wage increases this year. He’d like to make sure that we remain competitive; is his informal survey of these local companies okay? Answer: Absolutely not! Antitrust laws…
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Question: We have a “no-fault” attendance policy, which means that if an employee doesn’t show up for a scheduled shift, they get a point. We’re careful, however, not to penalize, discipline, or terminate anyone for using protected leave (such as paid sick leave or FMLA). Instead, we incentivize employees. If an employee reaches the…
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WHAT EMPLOYERS NEED TO KNOW Thursday, September 12, 2019 10-11 a.m. Pacific / 1-2 p.m. Eastern Oregon employers are facing a wave of new state employment laws after the 2019 Legislative Session. Many are still trying to figure out how to sort through all the new rules, and asking questions such as: What changes do we…
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Employers with 100 or more employees can now file “Component 2” of the EEO-1 Report, which covers pay and hours worked during 2017 and 2018. The deadline for filing the report is September 30, 2019. The requirement to file Component 2 data applies to companies with at least 100 employees on an employer-chosen…
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