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

FLSA

OK to place limits on meal break activities

09/04/2012

Under the FLSA, employees are supposed to be re­­lieved of all duties during meal periods. If they’re not, then meal breaks are considered paid time. That doesn’t mean employers can’t prohibit some meal break activities without having to pay employees.

Unauthorized overtime is your problem! Take steps to stop it–and punish rule-breakers

09/04/2012
According to the FLSA, even if you don’t know someone is working overtime, you can be sued if you underpay. The good news is you can crack down on unauthorized overtime by punishing an em­­ployee for failing to follow your clearly articulated no-unauthorized-overtime rule.

Tread carefully when unions settle wage claims

09/04/2012

The DOL generally takes a dim view of any attempt to negotiate away employees’ rights under the FLSA. For example, unions can’t say “no thanks” to the minimum wage or overtime pay during collective bargaining. However, there’s a difference between losing rights through the bargaining process and accepting a settlement that resolves conflicting wage claims.

Payroll records: Know exempt, nonexempt timekeeping requirements

08/28/2012
Employers subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act must keep rec­­ords for both nonexempt and exempt employees. The regulations don’t say which types of record-keeping or time­­keeping methods you should use, but they do specify the necessary data you need to maintain on all employees. Here’s the guidance you need to stay in compliance.

OK to pay overtime to salaried supervisors?

08/23/2012

Q. Our company pays overtime to salaried supervisors for hours they work over 40 in a week. I have never heard of this compensation practice. Is it legal?

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.