Hidden deep within the recently enacted health care reform legislation is a provision that garnered neither debate nor controversy in the media or the halls of Congress. The law amends the FLSA to require large employers to provide lactation breaks and facilities for employees who are breastfeeding.

Q. We require all employees to be in by 9 a.m. One of our exempt employees is constantly late. Can we discipline exempt employees for poor attendance?

Q. We have always paid our waiters less than the minimum wage because of the tips they earn. Are we permitted to count tips as part of the minimum wage as long as we notify our employees of this practice and their actual tips equal or exceed the tip credit?

Q. We are a small company. Two of our employees in the same department have asked to take vacation at the same time. We’re afraid that we will be short-staffed if both employees are out at the same time. Can we institute a policy preventing employees from being out simultaneously?

A group of in-home health care aides who claim the state illegally reduced their wages can file a class-action lawsuit, following a ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. According to the workers, who are part of the state’s In-Home Support Services (IHSS) program, California violated federal law when it cut state employees’ pay in an effort to balance the state budget.

Chicago-based Standard Parking Corp. recently settled a wage-and-hour lawsuit brought by current and former California parking attendants, valets and cashiers. The company will pay more than $4 million to some 7,100 employees.

A bill that would give California farm workers overtime pay for working fewer hours per week was recently approved in the state Senate. The bill, S.B. 1211, would allow farm workers to receive overtime pay for working more than 40 hours in a week, down from the current 60-hour threshold.

Q. Currently, we require each individual employee to fill out his or her own time sheet. But we’re considering a new format that lists all employees on one time sheet. Is this legal? Or should each employee’s time sheet be kept confidential?

Q. Our organization requires employees to wear uniforms on the job. Do we have an obligation to pay for the uniforms?

Q. Our company owns a number of hardware stores and we plan to hire some high school students this fall. Are there certain limitations under child labor laws that restrict the types of duties that minors can be allowed to perform?

Q. We operate a home health care business. Our employees frequently are on duty for more than 24 hours. If employees are able to sleep during shifts that are 24 hours or more, do we have to pay them for those hours?

It's one of the trickier wage-and-hour questions: How to pay hourly employees who travel on days they usually don't work, such as Saturdays and Sundays. Learn the intricacies of determining which hours are paid, which are not and how the Portal-to-Portal Act exception to the Fair Labor Standards Act comes into play.

Sometimes, you really do need to recruit someone from outside the organization—someone who may already be earning more than you usually pay your employees. When making a hire like that, make sure you document why you chose to top existing salaries, especially if the new hire is the opposite sex of any incumbents.

Q. Our company would like to hire interns to work in our office this fall, but we’re not sure if we have to pay them. What are some guidelines as to whether or not we need to put them on the payroll?