Wages & Hours

Gender wage gap widened for first time in two decades

09/30/2024

According to a recent Census Bureau report, working men earned a median $66,790 in 2023, a 3% change from 2022. Wages for working women increased by half as much.

Federal appeals court affirms: Overtime salary test is valid

09/20/2024

Ruling in Mayfield v. DOL, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a challenge by a Texas restaurateur who argued that nothing in the Fair Labor Standards Act gave the DOL the authority to base overtime pay on anything except the kind of work employees perform.

Blue-collar classification: Manual work isn’t exempt, even when paid on salary basis

09/12/2024

Sometimes, it’s difficult to make the exempt/nonexempt classification call. One thing that’s certain, however, is that paying on a salary basis does not convert nonexempt employees into exempt employees.

DOL investigators target restaurants, recover $2.25 million in just one week

09/09/2024

The Department of Labor’s crackdown on the restaurant industry continues. Over the course of just a week in late August, the DOL secured more than $2.25 million in back pay, damages and penalties from restaurateurs who cheated employees out of tips, failed to pay for overtime hours and illegally employed minors.

DOL’s 80/20 tip-credit rule overturned

08/30/2024

A federal appeals court on Aug. 23 struck down a Department of Labor rule governing how tipped workers must be paid for performing work for which they cannot receive tips.

More states ramp up pay-transparency requirements

08/30/2024

The push for pay equity is gaining momentum in statehouses nationwide. Several states have enacted legislation that prohibits employers from using new employees’ past compensation to set starting salaries and requiring them to disclose their starting pay ranges.

Bosses’ personal assets are at risk! How to dodge the spike in wage-and-hour lawsuits

08/23/2024

Want to stop bosses from allowing off-the-clock work or looking the other way when employees work unpaid overtime? Remind them that, unlike some other employment laws, the Fair Labor Standards Act lets employees sue supervisors (and HR professionals like you) personally—not just the organization itself.

Pay equity trends and data: What HR departments need to know

08/22/2024

While HR professionals are likely aware of the rising trend and growth of pay transparency laws, pay equity laws are rising as well. Joanna Colosimo, vice president of workforce equity and compliance strategy at DCI Consulting, dug into this issue during a session at SHRM’s annual conference this past June.

Wage growth tapered off in the last year

08/05/2024

Pressure to pay employees more seems to be easing. Compensation costs for private-sector employers increased 4.1% between June 2023 and June 2024, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Prepare to pay for time spent waiting to log in, sign off

07/26/2024

A federal appeals court recently reminded a lower court that the FLSA requires paying hourly workers for all time spent working on their employer’s behalf—unless pre- and post-shift activities are so inconsequential that they constitute de minimis time.