Category: Paychecks & Work
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Severance pay is not required by federal law unless a contract or policy promises it
Many laid-off workers assume severance is a legal right. It is not. No federal law requires an employer to pay severance at all, and when it is paid, it comes from a contract, a company policy, or a negotiated agreement rather than a statute. Knowing that changes how a worker should approach a layoff, because…
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Misclassifying employees as contractors can leave a company owing back overtime, the Labor Department says
Getting a 1099 instead of a W-2 does not automatically make someone an independent contractor, and the difference is worth real money. When a company wrongly labels an employee as a contractor, the Labor Department says the worker may be owed back overtime, minimum wage, and other protections they were denied. For a lot of…
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Some workers who quit for good cause, such as unsafe conditions, can still collect unemployment
A common belief keeps people from claiming money they may be owed: the idea that quitting a job always disqualifies you from unemployment benefits. It does not. In many states, a worker who leaves for a compelling, work-related reason, such as unsafe conditions or an employer breaking the terms of the job, can still collect.…
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Most hourly workers are owed time-and-a-half after 40 hours in a week under federal law
Under federal law, most hourly workers who put in more than 40 hours in a week are owed extra pay, and plenty never collect it. Non-exempt employees must be paid time-and-a-half for those overtime hours, one of the oldest worker protections on the books and also one of the most commonly shortchanged. Knowing the rule…
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Gig and freelance workers must make quarterly estimated tax payments or risk an IRS penalty
For anyone earning money on the side, whether driving, freelancing, selling online, or picking up gig work, the tax bill does not wait until April. The IRS expects self-employed workers to pay as they earn, in four installments across the year, and the next one is due September 15. Skip them, and the penalty is…
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The federal minimum wage has not risen from $7.25 an hour since 2009
It is one of the most stubborn numbers in American economic life: $7.25 an hour. That has been the federal minimum wage since July 2009, the longest the country has ever gone without raising it. For workers in states that follow the federal floor, more than sixteen years of inflation have quietly eaten away at…
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Tipped workers must still reach the full minimum wage, or the employer owes the difference
The paycheck says $2.13 an hour, and to a lot of new servers that number looks like the whole story. It is not. Under federal law, a tipped worker is still guaranteed the full minimum wage of $7.25 for every hour worked, and when tips do not get them there, the employer has to make…
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Laid-off workers may still qualify for unemployment even after turning down a severance offer
Losing a job is hard enough without a second worry piled on top: the fear that saying no to a severance package, or taking one, will quietly cancel any unemployment benefits. It is a common assumption, and for most laid-off workers it is wrong. Turning down a severance offer does not, by itself, disqualify someone…
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The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act requires employers to offer accommodations like light duty
A pregnant worker asked her manager for a stool so she could sit during long shifts, and instead of a stool she was told to go home on unpaid leave until the baby came. Under federal law, that response is now backwards. Since 2023, employers of a certain size have been required to work with…
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Warehouse workers paid as little as $2.03 an hour recovered $1.08 million in back wages
A wage that low sounds like a typo, but federal investigators found it was real. A freight company in southern California was paying some of its warehouse workers as little as $2.03 an hour, roughly a quarter of the federal minimum wage, until the U.S. Department of Labor stepped in and forced the employer to…
