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FLSA

‘Spiffs’ don’t count when establishing overtime exemption

07/01/2007

If you have an incentive system in which employees who sell a particular item get an additional set payment—commonly called a “spiff”—on top of other payments for selling the item, you can’t count the spiff as part of the commission …

You don’t necessarily have to pay for pre-Work activities

07/01/2007

Employers have struggled to figure out exactly when they must pay employees for pre-work activities ever since the U. S. Supreme Court decided that the Fair Labor Standards Act requires paying workers for the time they spend putting on protective clothing. It’s not enough to say that the time must be of benefit to the employer …

Qualify for professional exemption? Check job, not degree

07/01/2007

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires that employees who work more than 40 hours a week receive overtime for the extra hours. But many jobs and positions are exempt from FLSA OT rules …

Houston firm pays $256,000 to settle overtime dispute

07/01/2007

BJ Chemical Services in Houston recently paid $256,000 in back wages to 56 workers following a U.S. Labor Department investigation …

Supreme Court affirms that FLSA doesn’t apply to all employees

06/12/2007

A Supreme Court case narrowly focused on FLSA protections for home health care workers may signal a broader trend worth watching. Is a conservative high court now more inclined to defer to federal agency interpretations of the law even when those interpretations limit employee rights? A new EEOC age discrimination case that could reach the Supreme Court might tell the tale.

Federal employment law spotlight: FLSA, OSHA, wage discrimination

06/05/2007

Two new resources on federal compliance and a legislative attempt to address last week’s Supreme Court decision on pay discrimination head this week’s news from Washington.

Design bonus payments to reduce OT liability

06/01/2007
Do you hand out discretionary bonuses? If so, you may be paying more overtime than necessary—and mishandling bonus payments could land you in court.

Docking pay isn’t legal; rounding time normally is

06/01/2007

Q. Is it permissible to dock pay for someone who clocks in late? We pay the employee for actual hours worked to the nearest quarter hour, but we also dock tardy employees an additional quarter hour.—P.P.

Track all hours worked just in case exempt status fails

06/01/2007

Many employers assume they don’t need to keep track of the hours exempt employees actually work. Wrong! Since it’s conceivable that employees could contest their exempt status, you should track all hours worked by all employees …

FLSA and Georgia law: Figuring overtime pay for commission employees

06/01/2007

Georgia’s labor code contains no overtime exemption for commission-paid employees, but the federal Fair Labor Standards Act does. Georgia employers largely follow the federal law because it’s more stringent than state law. So employees who are paid on a commission basis are exempt from overtime laws, right?…