• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Wages & Hours

Obey state & local wage-and-hour laws in addition to the federal FLSA

02/10/2025
Many states and municipalities have wage-and-hour laws that go beyond the mandates of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. The FLSA sets the floor for wage-and-hour rules, but states and cities are free to set standards that are more generous to employees.

Beware high fees associated with alternative pay methods

02/07/2025
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has launched a lawsuit alleging that providers of wage-payment methods are charging exorbitant fees to workers who receive their pay via alternative means such as debit cards.

It’s not just the FLSA—monitor and comply with state and local wage-and-hour laws, too

01/15/2025
Make it a point to monitor state and local wage-and-hour laws and prepare in advance to comply.

What 2025’s salary budgets mean for your organization

12/23/2024
The days of dramatic salary budget increases may be behind us, but don’t expect a return to pre-pandemic norms just yet. Recent data from WTW’s Salary Budget Planning Report reveals that U.S. companies are maintaining their salary-increase budgets at elevated levels, with projections hovering at 3.7% for 2025—just a slight dip from 2024’s 3.8%.

DOL appeals overtime decision and injunction

12/09/2024
The Department of Labor has appealed a ruling by a federal judge in Texas that overturned the Biden administration’s rule that would have made some 4 million more white-collar workers eligible for overtime pay.

A hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay

12/05/2024
It sounds Dickensian—some employees with disabilities working under so-called Section 14(c) certificates earn $1 or less an hour. The Department of Labor wants to end this practice. New proposed regulations would, if finalized, phase out these certificates, so employees with disabilities would need to be paid at least the minimum wage.

Why you might want to track exempt workers’ time

12/02/2024
Because you must pay exempt employees their full salary in any week when they perform any work, there’s generally no need to track every hour and minute they work. But what happens if you classified the worker incorrectly and she wasn’t an exempt employee after all?

Court blocks overtime rules: Now what?

11/26/2024
What should employers do now that the overtime rule has been overturned? The good news is they won’t need to raise salaries on Jan. 1. But what about reversing the changes made in good faith back in July? Here are your options.

Under GOP, could comp time replace overtime pay?

11/20/2024
A proposal calls for Congress to pass the Working Families Flexibility Act, which proposes amending the Fair Labor Standards Act. It would authorize private employers to provide one-and-a-half hours of comp time for each overtime hour worked.

New overtime rule overturned, white-collar salary threshold reverts to $35,568 per year

11/18/2024
A federal judge in Texas on Nov. 15 struck down the Department of Labor rule that granted overtime pay to 1 million white-collar workers in July and would have made another 3 million eligible for overtime pay on Jan. 1.