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FLSA

SoCal fashion company owes $887K in unpaid wages, overtime

01/28/2011
Orange County’s Laundry Room Clothing had a hard time making payroll during the depths of the Great Recession. Now the men’s fashion manufacturer must make amends big time to the employees it stiffed.

What is work? How the FLSA defines it

01/25/2011
It seems like a simple question: What constitutes work for which employers must pay? Yet HR pros often struggle with tricky issues such as when and how (and how much) to pay when workers are on call, commuting, traveling or receiving training. Here are the answers, straight from the U.S. Department of Labor.

Must we pay for restroom breaks?

01/21/2011
Q. We have a school bus driver who takes a 10-minute bathroom break before dropping off her empty bus at the depot. We’ve been deducting the minutes from her paycheck. She says she must take the break due to her medication. Do we have to pay her?

Exempt or nonexempt: If you’re a nationwide employer, one size may not fit all

01/14/2011

If you’re a multistate employer, consider this when deciding which employees are exempt from overtime and which are not: It might seem sensible to create uniform job descriptions that apply nationwide, but that could cause unnecessary trouble. Smart employers give some flexibility so local supervisors can tailor jobs for the unique circumstances at each location.

Retail ‘managers’: Exempt or not? Look at duties, not time spent on them

01/12/2011
Retail managers often spend most of their time doing the same work that hourly employees do, such as running cash registers. Even so, they may qualify as exempt employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Why? It’s the quality of the management work they do that counts, not the number of hours they spend doing it.

Allen debt counseling firm sued for race bias, FLSA violations

01/07/2011
Two former salespeople are suing Greenshield Financial Services, a debt consolidation firm based in Allen, claiming the company is racially biased and failed to properly pay them for overtime hours.

FLSA doesn’t cover claims for distress, punitive damages

01/07/2011

Employees who win Fair Labor Standards Act lawsuits over wage-and-hour violations can only collect damages based on concrete and real losses. They can’t collect emotional or punitive damages on top of other damages.

DOL teams up with ABA–expect more FMLA, FLSA suits

01/07/2011
Since Dec. 13, employees with unresolved FMLA or Fair Labor Standards Act complaints with the DOL have been told of another option: a toll-free phone number that can link them to an ABA-approved attorney in their area who could handle their lawsuit.

Exemptions change: Review duties each year

01/05/2011
As employees’ duties change, make sure you regularly update their job descriptions to reflect realities on the ground. Then use those job descriptions to see if they are still properly classified under the FLSA. Don’t rely on an analysis that’s even a couple of years old. As this case shows, even an analysis provided by the DOL isn’t safe.

Must we pay for restroom breaks?

01/04/2011
Some breaks are required by law … and some are required by biology. Are employers required to pay when employees answer nature’s call?