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FLSA

Home nursing agency settles federal wage dispute

08/21/2012
Extended Health Care Private Duty Nursing, a Los Angeles-area home nursing agency, has agreed to pay $654,082 to settle a Fair Labor Standards Act complaint that followed a federal probe into its pay practices.

Feds dig for dirt on SoCal landscaper pay compliance

08/21/2012
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division is targeting Southern California’s landscape industry, looking for contractors and subcontractors that pay workers less than minimum wage.

Record number of federal wage-and-hour lawsuits filed in FY12

08/20/2012
A record number of federal wage-and-hour lawsuits were filed in FY12. The most common cases reaching the courts these days concern employee misclassification, off-the-clock work and miscalculation of overtime pay.

DOL: Miami’s Barton G stiffed tipped servers

08/14/2012
The U.S. Department of Labor has ordered Barton G, the company that owns three renowned Miami fine-dining restaurants, to pay $28,000 to low-wage workers who did not receive minimum wage.

Subway can’t make workers suffer for ‘art’

08/14/2012
A Tampa-area Subway franchisee will pay $7,536 in back wages plus $3,768 in liquidated damages following a ruling by a federal judge that workers should have been paid for the time they spent taking a required “Sandwich Artist Certification” course.

Court punts on kosher ministerial exception

08/14/2012
Under Title VII, religious institutions that employ workers to engage in religious activities are exempt from complying with anti-discrimination laws under the so-called ministerial exception. But what about minimum wage and overtime? Are ministerial employees entitled to protection under the FLSA?

Hockey arena builder clanks pipe, breaks child labor laws

08/13/2012

When a St. Paul construction company hired members of the Crookston High School hockey team in 2010 to install drain pipes under the ice rinks at the Crookston Sports Center, it probably seemed like a great community project. In fact, Arena Systems committed the employment law equivalent of three coincidental major penalties.

Must we pay interns and give them benefits?

08/09/2012
Q. We are still getting requests from students to work for free. We know we have to pay them minimum wage, but do we have to do more? Do we have to pay benefits or give paid holidays?

Track your fair and equitable discipline to prove you don’t discriminate

07/27/2012
Even an employee who was terminated for good reasons can win a discrimination lawsuit if she can show that someone outside her protected class wasn’t fired for the same transgression. That’s why you must track all discipline.

Could your time records withstand scrutiny?

07/27/2012

If you can’t show your time records are accurate, lawsuits claiming unpaid over­­time can get costly. That’s because—absent reliable employer records—courts will let employees fill in the timekeeping details. Make sure your records are easily ex­­plained and tamper-proof.