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FLSA

No matter how many contracts, OT still starts after 40 hours

11/01/2007

Do you have employees working on different contracts during the same week? If so, you must make sure you add up their total number of hours and pay overtime for the hours in excess of 40 per week. You can’t issue separate paychecks for each contract and avoid overtime payments. The Fair Labor Standards Act clearly states that all hours worked “for a particular employer” count for overtime, even if the work is done on different projects or contracts.

Don’t blow off legal papers unless you’re prepared to personally pay back wages

11/01/2007

Does your organization have a process in place for handling legal paperwork? If not, you risk a default judgment that could cost big bucks. If your organization is served with a lawsuit and fails to respond, a court may refuse to let it enter a late defense. And if the organization can’t participate, the court will accept as true everything the employee who is suing says in the complaint …

Is there an FLSA violation hiding in your company handbook?

11/01/2007

Why bother to wordsmith and labor over every word in your employment policies? Because sometimes an employer’s own pen can create liability. That was the case recently for an Illinois employer that will now go on trial for allegedly violating federal and state wage laws. Exhibit A on the list of evidence against the company: its employment policy handbook …

18 Tyson Foods unpaid-Wage suits consolidated in GA court

11/01/2007

Springfield-based Tyson Foods received approval from a U.S. judiciary panel to consolidate 18 employee lawsuits alleging labor-law violations concerning minimum wages, overtime and record-keeping. The lawsuits, which were filed in the district courts in 10 states, will be heard together in the Middle District of Georgia …

‘Manager’: the most legally explosive (And expensive) word

11/01/2007

When is a manager not really a manager? Answer: When the person performs the same duties as rank-and-file workers. That seemingly obvious point is becoming an expensive one at many organizations. Caribou Coffee, for example, is defending its classification of store managers as exempt from overtime. More than 400 store managers say they perform basically the same duties as front-line baristas and are entitled to overtime pay …

Mandatory doctor visits: Must you pay for the time?

11/01/2007

Q. We sometimes send our employees to our company doctor. Do we have to pay employees their hourly rates for their time? Also, are we responsible for any accidents that happen on the drive? —C.C., Arizona …

Federal judge decertifies FedEx Kinko’s FLSA class

11/01/2007

Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has decertified a class action in an overtime suit involving FedEx Kinko’s managers. According to Armstrong, the 490 “center managers” in California were executive employees and therefore exempt from overtime pay under California law in spite of the fact that they reported to other FedEx Kinko officials …

AIG hit with overtime lawsuit disputing exempt status

11/01/2007

Two New Jersey claims adjusters for AIG Inc. in New York City have filed a class-action lawsuit against the insurer alleging it improperly classified them as exempt from overtime pay …

FMLA claims just got tougher for employers

11/01/2007

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has decided that waiving employers’ past violations of the FMLA requires approval from a court or the U.S. Labor Department. That gives employees a leg up if they sue their employers for violating the FMLA. At the heart of the case is an FMLA regulation that states, “Employees cannot waive their rights under FMLA” …

Minimum wage in North Carolina

11/01/2007

Q. What is the minimum wage for North Carolina employees? Is it different than the federal minimum wage? …