FLSA

6 factors that determine independent contractor status

01/17/2012

Today’s tight economy has prompted many employers to try to reduce costs—including overtime—by classifying workers as independent contractors instead of employees. That hasn’t escaped the notice of the IRS and the U.S. Department of Labor, which have stepped up efforts to deter misclassification.

President proposes new pay rules for home health workers

01/06/2012

In an attempt to right what he perceives to be a wrong-headed Supreme Court decision, President Obama is asking the U.S. Department of Labor to change FLSA regulations covering home health care workers.

Immigration status irrelevant to FLSA and state wage claims

01/05/2012

A federal court hearing a Fair Labor Standards Act case has ruled that an employee’s immigration status is irrelevant and can’t be mentioned to the jury.

What’s a standard workweek?

01/05/2012

Q. What’s the definition of a standard workweek? One of our employees claims that overtime is defined as anything over eight hours per workday. Is he correct?

Performing same tasks as staff won’t eliminate a manager’s exemption

01/02/2012

An increasing number of those managers are filing FLSA lawsuits, claiming they should be classified as nonexempt, hourly employees—and, thus, due overtime—because they spend most of their time doing the same tasks as their subordinates. But that’s not the test.

Employer wins commute dispute

12/28/2011

Employees must be paid for their pre-shift or post-shift activities, if those activities are integral and indispensable to the performance of their principal jobs. That can stretch a workday and possibly require you to pay for employees’ commuting time. But not all pre-shift or post-shift work is the same.

Beware management push-back on HR decisions

12/21/2011

As an HR professional, you may come across employment practices that you think violate the law. What you do with that concern and how you express it may make the difference between engaging in protected activity or not—and by extension, whether you can sue for retaliation if upper management punishes you.

‘Voluntary’ training time: To pay or not?

12/20/2011

Do you offer extra off-duty training for employees that, while technically voluntary, is strongly recommended? If training participants are hourly employees, chances are you will have to pay them for this time.

No minimum wage for court-ordered sex-offender work

12/14/2011

A federal court has ruled that work done by civilly committed sex offenders as part of their treatment program is exempt from the minimum wage provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Your dollars at risk: Protect yourself from personal liability

12/13/2011

HR pros spend a lot of their time ensuring that their companies comply with the law so they don’t wind up in court and lose big bucks to a jury verdict. But more and more, they find themselves defending not their employers’ bottom lines, but their own bank accounts. Here’s how to protect your personal funds.