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FLSA

Is there a class action lurking in your employee handbook?

10/01/2007

Now may be a good time to review your employee handbook for potential big trouble. The problem: Because handbooks spell out policies that apply to many or all employees, they can be used to justify escalating a simple lawsuit into a class-action suit …

Insist on accurate time sheets, even if it costs you OT

10/01/2007

The Fair Labor Standards Act says employers must pay overtime to hourly employees who work more than 40 hours per week. Work time includes more than just the hours you put on the employee’s schedule—it also includes any time you “permitted” the employee to work outside the schedule. And therein lies a big overtime headache …

Is your arbitration clause broad enough to protect you?

10/01/2007

If you use an arbitration clause to limit federal lawsuits, now is a good time to review the terms. As an employer in the 11th Circuit, you can require employees to arbitrate just about any employment dispute. That can be a distinct advantage, especially as more and more attorneys representing employees push for class-action lawsuits. If employees agree to arbitration, it’s far less likely the case will mushroom to include all similarly situated employees …

No pay owed for on-Call employees’ ‘Commuting’ time

10/01/2007

If you have employees on call, you know how complicated paying them can be. But now at least one area of the law is fairly clear. A recent decision in a class-action case held that if employees report to their regular workplace in response to a call, they aren’t entitled to extra pay for their trip time. That counts as regular commuting time—which is always unpaid …

Promised to pay overtime when it wasn’t required? You have to anyway

10/01/2007

Are you sure you understand the Fair Labor Standards Act overtime provisions and when they apply? If not, now’s a good time to review them. An employer that agrees to pay more than required (because it mistakenly thought its workers were hourly employees entitled to overtime) can’t just change its mind …

No need to pay prisoners minimum wage—Court says it’s not ‘Slave labor’

10/01/2007

Is your organization providing employment opportunities within Illinois prisons? If so, you don’t have to worry about being sued for minimum-wage or overtime violations by the prisoners you employ, thanks to a federal court’s common-sense decision …

Michigan’s minimum wage is higher than the federal rate

10/01/2007

Q. The federal minimum wage increased in July. How does that relate to the minimum wage in Michigan? …

Exempt or nonexempt? Analyze your staff before a court does

10/01/2007

When a new position is created, HR professionals typically make a snap decision on a vital issue: whether the person filling it should be deemed exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act—i.e., they’re not eligible for overtime pay—or whether they’re nonexempt—i.e., eligible for time-and-a-half overtime pay. In many cases, that’s the last time the exempt versus nonexempt decision is ever reviewed for that employee. Not smart …

Labor sues Texas company for FLSA overtime violations

10/01/2007

The U.S. Labor Department sued Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. for violating the Fair Labor Standards Act by failing to pay approximately $3 million in overtime wages to more than 500 former and current employees. The department claims employee records at the company’s Dallas facility failed to show the number of hours the poultry-processing employees worked each day and the total number of hours they worked each week …

Are you overpaying staff for pre- and post-Work activities?

09/25/2007

The good news: Recent court rulings say you generally don’t have to pay for the time employees spend preparing for their workday, such as waiting in security lines or putting on generic headgear and work boots. The bad news: These kinds of cases continue to find their way into court, and the issue seems far from settled. Keep your lawyer’s phone number handy.