Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
To prevent the consequences from imprecise employee handbook language, employers should regularly review their handbooks and written policies. Since wage and hour lawsuits make up a significant part of litigation, W&H provisions can make a difference as you draft or review your employee handbook. Wage-and-hour related provisions should include pay details, safe harbor and state […]
Never Put These in a Job Description Essential job elements … exposure to physical hazards … pay grade … the list of what should be in a job description is long. But what should you keep OUT of job descriptions? Misclassification: DOL and IRS Declare War Misclassification—calling individuals “independent contractors” or “volunteers” who properly should […]
Unauthorized Overtime–Must Be Paid Even if Forbidden Many employers have written policies prohibiting unauthorized overtime. Such policies are fine—but you still have to pay employees for all hours they work, even if they have repeatedly violated your policy by working the extra hours. Unannounced WHD Inspector on the Way to Your Office? If you’ve got […]
Misclassification: DOL and IRS Declare War Misclassification—calling individuals “independent contractors” or “volunteers” who properly should be employees—is a burgeoning legal battleground for employers. A recent 30-million-dollar suit on behalf of newspaper carriers is a good example of the stakes involved, says attorney Christine V. Walters. Unauthorized Overtime–Must Be Paid Even if Forbidden Many employers have […]
It’s been two years since passage of a controversial federal law guaranteed break time and private space for nursing mothers to express milk at work. Women’s rights and business groups say many women who could benefit from the new right may not know about it. Regardless of whether or not employees are aware, the Department […]
Today the Labor Department extended the comment period for proposed changes to the Fair Labor Standards exemption for domestic caregivers. To date the agency has already received a flood of comments on the proposed regulation which would remove domestic caregivers from the Fair Labor Standards Act’s current exemption from minimum wage and overtime pay. Currently, the FLSA provides […]
The Labor Department is taking its enforcement efforts onto military bases. DOL’s Wage and Hour Division this month announced that it is conducting a significant labor law enforcement effort on a multibillion dollar construction project at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Tex., focused on promoting contractor and subcontractor compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act, […]
The Obama Administration’s proposed 2013 budget includes funding to hire 92 additional Wage and Hour Division investigators. The budget would allocate $6.4 million to hire investigators to enforce the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act, said Nancy Leppink, acting WHD administrator during a webchat on Monday. The funding would allow […]
Most employment laws include provisions protecting employees from vindictive managers who would otherwise punish them for exercising their rights. The Family and Medical Leave Act is no exception. Late last year, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division released Fact Sheet # 77B explaining the FMLA’s anti-retaliatory provisions. Here are some highlights: Prohibitions An […]
The Top 5 Compensation Habits to Kick Most comp managers have a few bad habits, but they’re hard to break, say experts Stacey Lunches and Breaks—’Little’ Violations, But Fines Add Up Quickly In yesterday’s Advisor, we covered two of the most common wage/hour violations; today, more violations. Pay Never Goes Down? Another Bad Habit In […]