Plummeting unemployment insurance funds and rising state debt will likely trigger a “solvency tax” on many Michigan employers beginning in January, the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA) said.

Gregory Lockhart, owner of Laser Saver Inc., a printer cartridge remanufacturer in Columbus, has pleaded guilty to willful failure to file financial reports for the company’s 401(k) plan with the U.S. Department of Labor.

When an R&R Partners employee was diagnosed with cancer last year and took short-term disability leave, her co-workers allowed the Las Vegas ad agency to deduct money from their paychecks to make up the 40% of her pay she didn’t receive while she was out. Camaraderie is part of the organization’s culture.

The economy may be shaky, but employee confidence that their paychecks are accurate remains firm, according to the National Payroll Association, which recently conducted a “Getting Paid in America” survey.

Two Brooklyn grocers have been charged with underpaying workers by more than $300,000 and falsifying business records. Bienvenido Nuñez, president of the Associated Supermarket in Bushwick, and Martin Duran, vice president, allegedly paid no wages to baggers, who worked for tips ...

A report released by Denver Auditor Dennis Gallagher in October accused employees in the Denver International Airport’s (DIA) Snow Operation Support Program of willfully collecting nearly $7,000 in unearned overtime pay.

We’d like our retail staff to wear uniforms. Can we charge them for the uniforms? ...

Q. I own a retail store and I have large inventory outlay costs during the first half of the month. To help manage my cash flows, I would like to begin paying my hourly employees at the end of the month. Can I pay them once a month at the end of each month? ...

On Aug. 4, a former employee filed a lawsuit against Apple Inc. for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and California law. If the court certifies the case for class-action status, as the employee wants—watch out! This could turn into one of the costliest wage-and-hour suits ever ...

Some temp employees have tried to argue that they should be paid immediately for their work as soon as they finish a particular assignment—and not have to wait until the next regular payday. They've claimed that when each assignment ends, they are in effect being “discharged.” Now a federal trial court has clarified that the end of an assignment isn't a “discharge.”

Q. One of my employees worked four 10-hour days this week. His last day of work fell on Sunday, the seventh day of our workweek. We do not currently have an alternative work schedule arrangement. Do we have any overtime obligations to this employee? ...

Test your knowledge of recent trends in employment law, comp & benefits and other HR issues with our monthly mini-quiz ...

Q. We’d like our retail staff to wear uniforms. Can we charge them for the uniforms? ...

Q. We have an employee who has a degree in accounting and is treated as a salaried, exempt professional employee under the FLSA. He became ill and has used his 12 weeks of FMLA leave. He chose to use the PTO leave concurrent with his FMLA leave. Since he returned, he has missed seven additional days of work. Can the company deduct these missed days from his pay without losing the salaried, exempt status?

Betzy Cowan, who worked for McLean County Clerk Peggy Ann Milton, has filed a complaint with the state Department of Labor (DOL) seeking $3,000 in unpaid overtime. Testifying in a misconduct hearing against Milton last year, Cowan said her boss frequently asked her to shuttle Milton’s children home on county time ...