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FLSA

DOL stops issuing wage-and-hour opinion letters

05/24/2010
Looking for an answer to your fact-specific FLSA or overtime question? For 50 years, employers could ask the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to issue an “opinion letter” to provide guidance. But the DOL stopped the practice in April, replacing the letters with “administrator interpretations.”

Are mortgage loan officers exempt?

05/17/2010
Q. I always thought that mortgage loan officers were exempt professional employees. Now I heard otherwise. Are mortgage loan officers exempt from the FLSA overtime requirements?

Are milk expression breaks mandatory?

05/17/2010
Q. I know a number of states already have laws that require employers to provide unpaid breaks to nursing mothers to express breast milk. Are there any federal laws providing for similar requirements?

To pay or not to pay interns? The DOL is cracking down

05/17/2010
Two factors have fueled a sharp rise in unpaid internships: Employers’ continuing need to hold down costs and the drop in the number of paying jobs for young people. But before you get too excited about using that free labor source, take note: The DOL and many state labor departments say they are stepping up enforcement and fines against employers that illegally don’t pay their interns.

Do we have to compensate employees who answer pagers off-the-clock?

05/14/2010
Q. We require certain employees to be on-call for customer service needs that arise after hours. Employees carry a pager while on-call, and are expected to respond to pages right away. Do we have to pay our employees regular wages, or a minimum number of hours and overtime for being on call?

DOL stops issuing wage-and-hour opinion letters

05/14/2010
For the past 50 years, employers could ask the U.S. Department of Labor to issue an “opinion letter” to provide guidance on fact-specific questions about overtime, FLSA or wage-and-hour issues. But the DOL stopped the practice last month, replacing the letters with “administrator interpretations.”

Must we give extra pay for extra duties?

05/13/2010
Q. We are short-staffed and some of our employees have been assigned tasks beyond what they were hired to do. Some have said they want more money because of this. Do we have to increase their pay?

OK to use deductions to collect from employees?

05/11/2010
Q. If an employee owes us money, can we collect it through deductions from his wages?

Court: Despite their complexity, FLSA regulations still govern ‘dual assignment’ OT

05/11/2010

Some firefighters have additional law enforcement duties. Those employees are sometimes called “dual assignment” employees under the FLSA and must be paid overtime based on which duties they perform most of the time. That means that once firefighters begin spending the majority of their time on law enforcement duties, they’re eligible for overtime pay after working 86 hours in a two-week period. Firefighters must work more than 106 hours to receive overtime pay.

How should we treat pay for mortgage loan officers under the FLSA?

05/11/2010
Q. Do we have to pay our mortgage loan officers overtime for any hours worked over 40 in a week?