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Wages & Hours

Check overtime, other pay practices: DOL cracking down after scathing report

04/14/2009

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division is preparing to crack down on employers who stiff workers out of overtime pay after a government uncovered a pattern of ignoring alleged employer wrongdoing. As enforcement gears up, we’ve got resources you can use to make sure you’re in compliance.

Changed work schedule isn’t workers’ comp retaliation

04/09/2009

A minor schedule change to accommodate medical restrictions isn’t retaliation.

Can we cut employee pay to reduce costs?

04/09/2009

Q. We are considering layoffs but would like to avoid them. Can we cut employees’ pay because of tough economic times?

Legislation would scrap state’s prevailing wage

04/09/2009

A bill before the Minnesota Legislature would allow the state to suspend prevailing wage requirements on state-funded construction projects if November budget projections show a 1% or greater deficit. State prevailing wage legislation is patterned after the federal Davis-Bacon Act, which requires federally funded construction projects to pay the “prevailing wage” for specific job classifications.

What to do when a Department of Labor auditor comes a-knocking

04/08/2009
Suppose an employee has complained to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) about possible wage-and-hour or overtime violations in your workplace. Once you’ve been notified that an auditor is coming, get prepared by conducting your own audit. Labor’s auditors have plenty of latitude to inspect records and interview employees, so make sure you’ve done everything […]

Public employees must choose: Sue agency or boss, not both

04/07/2009

Here’s a bit of good news for managers and supervisors who work for Ohio public employers. Employees who decide to sue a government agency through the state Court of Claims lose the right to sue their supervisors directly and personally.

Furloughs and unpaid time off create wage-and-hour problems

04/07/2009

Family-friendly practices have suddenly taken a back seat as struggling businesses focus on the bottom line. Now employers are looking for other ways to give employees time off, albeit involuntarily. But when employers impose furloughs, forced shutdowns and reduced work schedules on exempt salaried employees in increments of other than a full week, it can jeopardize exemptions under the FLSA.

Can we dock a worker for not wearing a company shirt?

04/07/2009

Q. I own a construction company. We require all employees to wear a company shirt. If an employee does not wear a company shirt, he or she is assessed a $25 per day penalty, which is deducted from the next paycheck. Is this penalty legal?

Expect ‘lawsuit tsunami’ in wake of Ledbetter Fair Pay Act

04/07/2009

On Jan. 29, President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which may be the most important change in anti-discrimination laws in decades. It applies to all pending compensation-related lawsuits, but limits back pay to two years. Employers can look ahead to many years of legal wrangling over the interpretation of the seven key words of the act: “a discriminatory compensation decision or other practice.”

Must we pay workers’ weekend travel time to new location?

04/07/2009

Q. We are closing one facility and laying off a large number of workers. In lieu of immediate layoffs, however, we want to temporarily transfer some maintenance employees from another facility 800 miles away. They have agreed to perform this work, which will take about three months. Do we have to pay them for the time spent traveling to the new work location, which will occur over a weekend?