• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

FLSA

Preserve employees’ exempt status; give explicit ‘discretion and judgment’ power

12/31/2009

Be wary of applying the FLSA exempt administrative classification to employees simply because they perform office or nonmanual work directly related to the company’s management or general business operations. Such a misclassification neglects the second part of the administrative-exemption test: that the employee’s “primary duty include the exercise of discretion and independent judgment with respect to matters of significance.”

Internal wage-and-hour complaints don’t count as ‘testimony’ in FLSA retaliation cases

12/24/2009

The Fair Labor Standards Act includes a retaliation clause that bars employers from punishing employees who provide “testimony” in FLSA cases. That doesn’t mean, however, that employees who complain internally about wage-and-hour issues are automatically protected.

Philly area hospital workers lose lunch break, file lawsuit

12/23/2009

Workers at nine Philadelphia area hospitals have filed a class-action overtime lawsuit claiming the hospitals’ practice of automatically deducting lunch periods deprives them of overtime pay.

How should we handle partial days off for our salaried business manager?

12/23/2009

Q. We’re a nine-physician medical clinic, and we employ a salaried business manager. Her duties include personnel, hiring, firing and office work. We don’t give her comp time or overtime pay. If she takes a partial day off, she must use vacation time (paid time off). Are we handling this correctly?

Beware professional exemption if college degree isn’t required

12/09/2009

Before concluding that a white-collar and seemingly professional skilled and scientific job is exempt from overtime, get expert advice. Blindly deciding that the job is exempt may mean trouble down the line.

Is it legal to pay just a partial day’s pay for employees who work less than a full shift?

12/09/2009

Q. We scheduled an hourly employee to work a full day, but he worked only part of the day because we didn’t have enough for him to do. With the slowdown in our business, we expect this will be happening with this and other employees more frequently.Do we have to pay hourly employees for a full day of work or just the actual number of hours worked?

How to hand out holiday bonuses

12/01/2009

Q. I started a business a few years ago, but this is the first year that I actually have an office with employees. I would like to give them holiday bonuses this year. What are the legal guidelines I should follow?

Family Dollar: 1 win, 1 loss in overtime litigation

12/01/2009

Discounts are scarce for retailer Family Dollar, which will begin paying out an estimated $35 million to employees it misclassified as exempt from overtime laws in Alabama. A similar case in North Carolina resulted in a Family Dollar victory.

If employees leave because of bad weather, must we pay them for a whole day’s work?

12/01/2009

Q. Do we have to pay our employees for a full day’s work when they leave early due to bad weather?

With DOL on the prowl, it’s time to check your OT practices

12/01/2009

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division is preparing to crack down on employers that stiff workers out of overtime pay—and now it’s hired extra staff to find and punish employers that break the law. As enforcement gears up, we’ve got resources you can use to make sure you’re in compliance.