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Wages & Hours

New California penalties for minimum-wage violations

01/26/2015
Among the flurry of new California labor laws passed in 2014 is an amendment to the labor code that allows the state Labor Commissioner to issue a civil penalty for failure to pay less than the minimum wage.

Court: Exotic dancer can argue she’s an employee

01/26/2015
An employee doesn’t become an independent contractor just by signing an agreement that says so. Courts use several tests to make that determination.

Pay for required desk time–even if no work is happening

01/26/2015
Employers must pay for the time em­­ployees spend sitting at their desks if they aren’t allowed to leave—even if they aren’t doing any work.

Must we pay for time spend in security line?

01/21/2015
Q. To prevent theft, we require our employees to pass through security screenings after they finish their shifts. Because we have a large number of employees, it can take up to 25 minutes for employees to get through the screening line. Do we have to pay our employees for the time they spend in line and going through the security screenings?

He who has the best time records usually wins a wage-and-hour lawsuit

01/15/2015

The FLSA and DOL regulations require employers to track all hours worked so employees can be paid for all the time they spend working. That’s especially true for hourly employees. But what about tracking hours for so-called exempt employees who aren’t eligible for overtime pay for hours worked over 40 per week?

Study suggests widespread minimum wage violations in NY

01/14/2015
A study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Labor finds that somewhere between 3.5% and 6.5% of workers in New York earn less than the minimum wage. The study, performed by Eastern Research Group, showed that more than 300,000 New York workers were being paid illegally low wages.

Federal court delays overtime rule for some home health aides

01/06/2015
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on New Year’s Eve issued a temporary restraining order to temporarily stop the U.S. Department of Labor from implementing a rule that would have made many live-in home health care aides eligible for overtime pay.

Supreme Court: No pay for security screening time

01/05/2015
A recent ruling held that time workers spend waiting to undergo and undergoing security screenings is not compensable under the FLSA.

Fair Labor Standards Act: Overview

01/03/2015

HR Law 101: The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) covers the federal minimum wage, rules on overtime pay and child labor regulations. Since the U.S. Department of Labor recently overhauled the overtime rules, it’s critical to make sure you’re properly classifying workers as exempt or nonexempt …

FLSA: Calculating Hours Worked

01/02/2015
HR Law 101: To ensure you’re in compliance with the FLSA, it’s important to understand the definition of “hours of work.” Any hour when an employee’s on duty is considered time worked. The only period usually excluded: when an employee uses the time for personal reasons …