Wages & Hours

DOL investigators target restaurants, recover $2.25 million in just one week

09/09/2024

The Department of Labor’s crackdown on the restaurant industry continues. Over the course of just a week in late August, the DOL secured more than $2.25 million in back pay, damages and penalties from restaurateurs who cheated employees out of tips, failed to pay for overtime hours and illegally employed minors.

DOL’s 80/20 tip-credit rule overturned

08/30/2024

A federal appeals court on Aug. 23 struck down a Department of Labor rule governing how tipped workers must be paid for performing work for which they cannot receive tips.

More states ramp up pay-transparency requirements

08/30/2024

The push for pay equity is gaining momentum in statehouses nationwide. Several states have enacted legislation that prohibits employers from using new employees’ past compensation to set starting salaries and requiring them to disclose their starting pay ranges.

Bosses’ personal assets are at risk! How to dodge the spike in wage-and-hour lawsuits

08/23/2024

Want to stop bosses from allowing off-the-clock work or looking the other way when employees work unpaid overtime? Remind them that, unlike some other employment laws, the Fair Labor Standards Act lets employees sue supervisors (and HR professionals like you) personally—not just the organization itself.

Pay equity trends and data: What HR departments need to know

08/22/2024

While HR professionals are likely aware of the rising trend and growth of pay transparency laws, pay equity laws are rising as well. Joanna Colosimo, vice president of workforce equity and compliance strategy at DCI Consulting, dug into this issue during a session at SHRM’s annual conference this past June.

Wage growth tapered off in the last year

08/05/2024

Pressure to pay employees more seems to be easing. Compensation costs for private-sector employers increased 4.1% between June 2023 and June 2024, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Prepare to pay for time spent waiting to log in, sign off

07/26/2024

A federal appeals court recently reminded a lower court that the FLSA requires paying hourly workers for all time spent working on their employer’s behalf—unless pre- and post-shift activities are so inconsequential that they constitute de minimis time.

Pay disparities: The impact of hiring higher-paid employees

07/17/2024

Pay compression—hiring new employees at higher pay rates than incumbents—is a common issue faced by HR professionals. It is exacerbated when labor markets are tight, as they are today. It is also a known culprit driving gender inequities.

Despite federal court’s narrow restriction, start complying with new OT rule

07/01/2024

Ruling on the first of two lawsuits seeking injunctions to block the rule, Judge Sean D. Jordan of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas decreed June 28 that Texas state government agencies do not have to comply with the overtime rule. All other employers subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act do.

GOP senators attempt to block overtime rule

06/24/2024

Republican Sens. Tommy Tuberville (Ala.) and Mike Braun (Ind.) on June 17 introduced a resolution calling for the repeal of the Department of Labor’s final rule raising the overtime salary threshold for white-collar employees.