Can I hold an employee’s paycheck?
Almost every employer has faced the following situation: an employee quits without notice, and still possesses property (uniforms, equipment, keys) that belong to the company. Or worse, the employee is disgruntled and damages property of the company on her way out. It’s alright, I’ll just hold her last paycheck hostage until she returns the […]
Do I need to provide leave to my employees?
First of all, when we say “leave” we are referring to leave as a general term of not being required to be at work. So, leave is an umbrella term that refers to vacation time, sick time, personal time, PTO and whatever other creative term may be used to refer to time away from […]
Do I Really Need to Shovel Snow?
As winter rolls on, it gets tougher and tougher for even the hardiest Wisconsinites to pull themselves out of bed before work and shovel out the previous night’s snowfall. This is especially true when snow accumulates on consecutive days or the piles of snow bordering our sidewalks get to be chest high. As obnoxious as […]
The Wage and Hour Implications of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
In early November, 2021, President Biden signed into law the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a bipartisan infrastructure deal. The bill allocates approximately $1.2 trillion for infrastructure spending, including $55 billion to expand access to clean drinking water, $110 billion for roads and bridges, $66 billion for railroads, $65 billion each for power grid updates […]
U.S. Department of Labor Proposes Further Rulemaking for Tip Regulations
The U.S. Department of Labor recently proposed further rulemaking for tip regulations, which delayed some regulations until December 2021, while others took effect on April 30, 2021. The FLSA allows an employer to count a limited amount of tips received by its tipped employees as a credit toward the employer’s Federal minimum wage obligations. This […]
Do business owners need to pay Unemployment Insurance?
Let’s start with some background on unemployment insurance in Wisconsin. This article focuses on unemployment insurance from an employer’s perspective and specifically under Wisconsin state law. As such, we are not discussing the expanded unemployment provisions in the CARES Act, which primarily impact separated employees applying for unemployment benefits under more broad eligibility criteria. As […]
Public Health of Madison and Dane County to Lift Emergency Orders on June 2
On May 18, Public Health of Madison and Dane County (“PHMDC”) announced the next steps in response to COVID, largely in light of the CDC’s recent update on May 13 that fully vaccinated do not need to wear masks or physical distance in any setting (see here for more information from the CDC). As we […]
Employee or Independent Contractor?
Whether an individual worker can or should be classified as an employee or independent contractor is a crucial question that every employer needs to answer before bringing on a worker. This article is focused on issues facing Wisconsin employers. This article is broken down into two sections: FAQs Tests which include both Wisconsin and Federal […]
Dane County Issues New Public Order #16, Effective May 5
Public Health Madison & Dane County (“PHMDC”) has issued Emergency Order #16 to replace Order #15 (our analysis of Order #15 can be found here), which expires at midnight on May 5. The new order goes into effect at 12:01 a.m. on May 5 and will be effective until June 2. PHMDC notes that, as […]
New COVID guidance from OSHA
On January 29, 2021 OSHA released guidance to help employers and employees identify risks related to exposure to and contracting of COVID-19 at work. This guidance is intended to apply to most workplace settings, but specifically does not apply to healthcare or emergency response settings/workplaces. The guidance contains recommendations that are advisory in nature and […]