FLSA

What hours can young teenagers work?

11/15/2010

Q. We have several employees who are 14 and 15 years old. Could you provide the specifics of the new regulations the U.S. Department of Labor recently issued relating to the work hours for these employees?

Make choice up front: Employee or contractor?

11/11/2010

Adding staff? Decide up front if you want an employee or an independent contractor. Under the FLSA and state law, you must pay overtime to nonexempt employees. Not so for independent contractors. Make the employee-or-contractor call well before you bring someone on board. Don’t assume you can make the designation later. That usually won’t work.

Checking e-mail after hours: Should we pay?

11/11/2010

Q. Several nonexempt employees have smartphones. Do we have to pay them for the time they check work e-mail at home?

HR after the mid-terms: What’s Washington going to do?

11/09/2010

Republicans captured control of the House of Representatives in the mid-term elections, while Democrats retained a slim majority in the Senate. With a Democrat in the White House and a divided Congress, what does that mean for the HR-related issues that have dominated the headlines for the last two years? Here’s our rundown of the likely legislative scenarios.

NYC dollar stores settle FLSA complaint

11/05/2010

The owners of 11 New York City dollar stores will pay more than $485,000 to settle complaints they violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by paying workers less than minimum wage, and failing to pay time-and-a-half for overtime hours.

Manhattan’s swank Del Posto restaurant sued for lost tips

11/05/2010

A group of 27 current and former employees at celebrity chef Mario Batali’s Del Posto restaurant are suing the restaurant because they say managers illegally skimmed tip-pool funds meant for service workers.

5th Cir. Court of Appeals rejects DOL interpretation of guest worker minimum-wage requirement

11/01/2010

In a sign that some courts are flexing their muscles and resisting attempts by the U.S. Department of Labor to crack down on employers, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected an effort to force employers to cover more guest worker costs.

No holiday pay for exempt staff in first 90 days?

10/29/2010

Q. Our company has a 90-day probationary period that employees must complete before they’re eligible for holiday pay. We’ve always made salaried exempt employees meet this requirement, too. So if a holiday occurs during their first 90 days, we only pay them for the days worked that week. Is this legal?

Fish farms net win in court: They’re not on the hook for FLSA overtime

10/26/2010

By law, the FLSA doesn’t apply to fishing activities when the work takes place on the water. However, the FLSA does cover work at fish-processing plants. That means that employees on fishing boats aren’t required to be paid overtime, while those who packaged the catch on land must. But what about fish farms?

Praising off-the-clock work? Plan to pay for it

10/22/2010

Every manager loves an employee who gives extra effort—the type who will come in early or stay late to finish a project. But, as this new case shows, managers should be careful about praising hourly employees for their off-the-clock efforts. Workers can use those comments in an overtime-pay lawsuit as proof that the company not only knew of the extra hours, but also condoned them.