FLSA

OT would have been cheaper: L.A. company owes $3.2 million

02/23/2011

Los Angeles sportswear manufacturer Tapout would have been better off paying up in the first place. All former employee Michelle Thomas originally wanted was overtime pay and some disputed commissions she said she had earned. But now that a California Superior Court jury in L.A. has ruled, Tapout is on the hook for $3.2 million, including $2.4 million in punitive damages.

What keeps HR awake at night?

02/22/2011

Rising health care costs, implementing the new health care reforms, rapidly changing business and labor markets, growing regulatory complexity and managing the aging workforce top the list of challenges HR pros face. That’s what the Society for Human Resource Management found when it surveyed more than 9,000 practitioners.

Make the independent contractor vs. employee decision before you bring person on board

02/22/2011

Make sure you make the employee-or-contractor call before you hire an employee. Don’t assume you can make the designation later. That usually won’t work. And you probably won’t even discover the problem until it’s too late to fix it—when a terminated worker files an overtime lawsuit.

How can I discipline exempt staff for poor work?

02/15/2011

Q. After the holidays, our hourly employees returned to pre-holiday productivity. But our exempt employees didn’t. What can I do since their salaries aren’t dependent on how many hours they work?

Florida sued over floating minimum wage calculations

02/14/2011

In 2004, state voters approved linking the minimum wage to inflation. All went well for a few years, but now a lawsuit says the state got the math wrong two years ago.

Tampa investigation leads to multistate overtime settlement

02/14/2011

When U.S. Department of Labor investigators first looked into ready-mix cement truck drivers’ complaints in Tampa, they didn’t know the investigation would lead to a $1.5 million recovery for CEMEX employees in eight states.

What’s this I hear about a partnership between the government and the ABA to help employees sue?

02/11/2011

Q. I’ve heard that employees may soon be getting free legal services to sue employers. Is this true?

Follow federal FLSA rules to pay for ‘donning & doffing’

02/09/2011

Good news for Minnesota employers that have been worried about how to pay employees for the time they spend putting on and taking off protective clothing before and after their shifts: Paying overtime as required by federal law generally means no additional payment is due under Minnesota law.

Make sure employees record all hours they work

02/09/2011

Do you have an hourly employee who seems to be getting a tremendous amount of work done? Make sure she isn’t skipping breaks.

Think your employees are weird? Get a load of these guys!

02/08/2011

If you think your employees can be an odd bunch, rest assured they’re probably not the weirdest of the weird. The working world is a strange and wondrous place, thanks to the colorful characters that inhabit it. Here are three good examples.