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FLSA

Turnabout is fair pay: EEOC broke overtime law

04/07/2009

Even the feds can’t keep overtime law straight. An arbitrator has ruled that the EEOC—of all agencies!—willfully violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by forcing employees to take comp time instead of overtime pay when they worked more than 40 hours a week. Need more proof that there’s an irony epidemic these days? Increasing numbers of lawsuits are being filed against … lawyers!

Can we deduct partial days off from salaried employees’ accrued leave?

03/26/2009

Q. If a company tracks employees’ vacation, sick and personal time off, can we make deductions from accumulated time for everyone who takes time off, including salaried employees? I’m talking about deducting it from the accrual, not the pay. I’ve heard that I can’t deduct vacation, sick leave or personal time if the salaried employee worked at least four hours during that day.

AIG isn’t the only employer with bonus problems!

03/24/2009

If, like many employers, you rely on a bonus plan to help retain valued employees and motivate them to work hard, don’t get caught in this common trap: Employees who worked overtime during the bonus-earning period will be entitled to additional overtime pay after they get their bonuses.

What counts as ‘full time’ under federal law?

03/24/2009

Q. We mostly have 40-hours-a-week employees, plus a couple of 20-hour part-timers. One part-timer asked me what constitutes “full time.” I think she wants to work the minimum and still receive benefits. Is there a set cutoff for full-time work under the federal overtime labor law?

Can we deduct hourly FMLA leave for exempt staff?

03/24/2009

Q. We have an exempt administrative employee who is on intermittent FMLA leave. She’s unable to work on Fridays for two or three hours due to a serious health condition. By policy, she must use any accrued sick leave when she is out sick, typically in whole-day increments. Can we charge her sick time in hourly intervals because she is utilizing FMLA intermittent leave even if we charge her in larger blocks when she is just plain sick?

Study cites Illinois as a hotbed of wage-and-hour claims

03/13/2009

A recent report offers some ominous news for Illinois employers. Illinois is one of eight states that saw an increase in class-action wage-and-hour cases filed in state court last year, according to the Seyfarth Shaw law firm’s new Workplace Class Action Litigation Report.

Courts crack down on FLSA collective actions

03/12/2009

For several years now, lawyers have been trying to create collective actions by finding one or two angry employees who think they were wrongly classified as exempt employees and therefore entitled to overtime pay. By pairing two or more cases, attorneys try to turn simple litigation into expensive collective-action claims. Now some federal judges are rethinking those cases—and it’s good news for employers.

It’s up to you to establish exempt status

03/06/2009

To avoid paying overtime and keeping track of every minute employees spend on the job, many employers reflexively classify employees as exempt rather than hourly employees. But many employers get it wrong—and that can be costly.

Must we pay overtime to telemarketers?

03/06/2009

Q. Historically, we do not pay overtime to our commissioned telemarketers. After all, they are paid strictly on commission, not by the hour. Some employees are now complaining that we are paying them illegally by not paying overtime for weeks in which they work more than 40 hours. Are they right?

Study cites Texas as a hotbed of wage-and-hour claims

03/03/2009

A recent report offers some ominous news for Texas employers. Texas is one of eight states that saw an increase in class-action wage-and-hour cases filed in state court last year, according to the Seyfarth Shaw law firm’s new Workplace Class Action Litigation Report.