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FLSA

Not so warm and fuzzy at Aurora Build-A-Bear Workshop

06/12/2009

Stuffed-toy retailer Build-A-Bear Workshop has been cited for child labor violations, including several that allegedly occurred at its Aurora store. According to a federal audit, the company allowed workers under age 18 to operate trash compactors and ride in freight elevators without an adult operator.

Make sure employees don’t work on breaks; burden’s on them to prove they did

06/11/2009

Here’s a bit of good news for employers trying to make sure they don’t violate the Fair Labor Standards Act: The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that employees—not employers—have the initial burden of showing they actually worked during unpaid lunch or other break periods.

Arbitrate FLSA claims? One court says yes

06/08/2009

Many employers place arbitration clauses in their employment applications or handbooks. The idea is that forcing employees to arbitrate workplace disputes will be quicker and easier than going to federal court. A recent federal court decision by a Florida-based judge has upheld the right to take even FLSA complaints over wage-and-hour law to arbitration.

Labor Department seeks more funds to boost enforcement

06/08/2009

U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis’ budget request to Congress includes funds to hire nearly 1,000 new employees, 670 of whom will be investigators. The plan calls for 200 more wage-and-hour Labor investigators and 160 additional OSHA gumshoes.

Lawsuits on the rise: Audit your policies to prevent litigation

06/05/2009

The economy is a shambles, and employers are doing everything they can to stay in business. That includes terminations, salary and wage cuts and temporary furloughs. Nearly every one of those moves carries litigation risk. Have your company’s personnel policies and practices had a checkup lately? A comprehensive audit is one of the easiest ways to spot problems.

Beware incentive plans that deduct pay from exempt employees

06/05/2009

The FLSA sets strict rules for who can be classified as an exempt employee not entitled to overtime pay. One of those is the so-called salary-basis test. Exempt employees must be paid the same salary regardless of the quality or quantity of their work in any given pay period. In other words, employers can’t make deductions from pay for poor work.

Can we make employees pay for work uniforms?

06/05/2009

Q. Are there any laws that prohibit me from charging my employees for their mandatory work uniforms?

May we ask employees to ‘volunteer’ their time?

06/05/2009

Q. We are considering asking our employees to donate some time back to the company as a way to save costs and avoid having to lay off anyone. By “donate time” I mean working one or more hours per week without pay. Is this legal?

Rules of the road: Know when to pay hourly employees for travel time

06/02/2009
You don’t need to pay nonexempt employees for their commuting time to and from the workplace. That’s simple. But what if such employees occasionally travel off-site (or even overnight) for work reasons?

Payroll pain: Can we ask staff to work for no pay?

05/27/2009

Q. We are having trouble making payroll and have asked our employees to give up pay for 20 hours per month while they work their regular schedules. Can we do this? Or should we just cut their salaries or hourly wages to make up the difference?