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What I've Been Reading This Week


Finally have a few days back in the office where I was not on the road as much for work.  Given that extra time, I have had an opportunity to read through a few more articles than I had time for last week.  One of my favorites this week was the article on the illegal practice of docking the pay of a salaried, exempt employee. 

As always, below are a few articles that caught my eye this week.


California Bill Advances: Cheerleaders to Be Paid Minimum Wage?

Earlier this year, I wrote an article about a California Congresswoman, Lorena Gonzalez, who introduced AB 202 in the California legislature which would require NBA and NFL cheerleaders to be paid minimum wage.  California's Committee on Labor and Employment recently approved the bill which will now proceed along for further debate before the bill could become a law.  This is one to keep an eye on.



This was one of the better articles I came across this week, as Christopher McKinney breaks down the common, but illegal docking of pay of salaried, exempt employees.  As the article notes, an exempt, salaried employee who shows up late or leaves work early cannot be docked pay, so long as they were there for a period of time.  However, this is something that happens all too often...a major FLSA issue.



Marc Edelman has a good note on the continued wait for a ruling from the NLRB on whether the Northwestern football team can unionize.  As readers may remember, it has been over a year since the Regional Director of the NLRB (in Chicago) held that the football players could unionize.  Edelman does a good job breaking down the landscape as it exists now, and provides a good context for where things stand on the unionization front for these college athletes.     


Negotiating Your Own Severance and You Underbid: Now What?

Some employees choose to negotiate their own severance, and as Donna Ballman notes, an employee in this situation should consider several things before signing off on the severance.  As she notes in her article, many employees underbid themselves, and then realize (oftentimes too late in the game), the mistake they made.  Well worth a read for employees who negotiate their own severance...though as noted in the article, tread carefully:  "He who represents himself has a fool for a client."

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