• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Wages & Hours

The $640 million question: Do you know how to comply with the FLSA?

01/13/2009

Oops! Wal-Mart’s paying the largest settlement ever for Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) violations—a whopping $640 million! Even small employers can be liable for huge penalties if they violate the wage-and-hour law. That’s why HR Specialist’s upcoming Labor and Employment Law Advanced Practices Symposium features a session titled “Wage & Hour Litigation Rages On—The 10 Most Common Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)." Meanwhile, here’s a primer on FLSA compliance.

Make sure ‘executive exemption’ fits, or you could be liable for huge FLSA damages

01/13/2009

Don’t make one of the most common mistakes HR managers do when classifying employees as exempt—by relying on the so-called “executive exemption” for employees you call managers and supervisors. Unless you can back up your claims with solid proof, your organization could be on the hook for an expensive jury award.

Several locations? Beware accidental OT trap

01/13/2009

Here’s a trap you may fall into accidentally: If you have multiple locations, each operating independently, watch out for wage-and-hour violations involving employees who work at more than one location. Here’s why.

Wal-Mart settles Minnesota W&H lawsuit for $54 million

01/13/2009

Wal-Mart agreed Dec. 9 to pay $54.25 million to settle a seven-year class-action lawsuit with roughly 100,000 current and former hourly employees in Minnesota. All things considered, that was a bargain.

Can we forbid employees from sharing how much of a bonus they received?

01/13/2009

Q. My company asks employees who receive raises or discretionary bonuses not to discuss them with other employees. An employee recently took issue with this request and told me the company’s practice is illegal. Is that true?

Are employees obligated to keep wages and salaries confidential?

01/12/2009

Q. Can an employer prohibit employees from sharing confidential wage information with each other, such as rates of pay or the amount of wage increases?

Green light on class actions for employees willing to gamble

01/09/2009

Employees can file class-action lawsuits on behalf of all similarly situated employees to recover unpaid overtime and other unpaid wages—if they are willing to give up their statutory rights to penalties and liquidated damages under New York State labor laws.

Staffing company owes $113,000 to Long Island club workers

01/09/2009

Star One Staffing has agreed to pay $113,000 in back wages and damages to 70 Filipino workers who served as waiters, waitresses and bus staff at exclusive Long Island country clubs.

Must we pay for short smoking breaks?

01/09/2009

Q. Would a brief clock-out (initiated by the employee) of less than 20 minutes, such as an impromptu smoking break or personal phone call break, need to be paid as work time?

Can we deduct personal leave for exempt worker’s partial-day absence?

01/09/2009

Q. Some of our supervisors make their exempt employees take personal or sick leave for every minute they miss from work, even if they work a regular schedule the rest of the week. Can we safely do that?