Terra Extraneus

During the National Public Radio program Morning Edition, Liz Ryan, a columnist for Business Week, was interviewed by Steve Inskeep, and you can find the interview here. According to the NPR story, a company called Clarian Health first said it would dock the wages of employees who are overweight or who smoke. Then it backed away from that plan. When asked if such a wage withholding plan was lawful, Liz Ryan said it was.

She is wrong.

In most states, it would be illegal by statute to withhold wages without written consent. Thus, when or if someone objected to Clarian Health’s announced plan, Clarian Health no doubt got a refresher course on these little used statutes.

For in-house corporate lawyers who often must be “jacks of all trades,” Gordon E. Jackson’s book, Labor and Employment Law Handbook, Aspen Publishers, is a good desk reference to keep around to avoid such errors. Liz Ryan is a well-regarded human resourcees expert who writes a blog on workplace matters — and is a professional opera singer, as well! However, she is not an attorney. If Ms. Ryan is going to grant news interviews on employment law, she might want to grab a copy of Jackson’s handbook, too.