FLSA

‘Donning and doffing’ remains FLSA flashpoint

11/20/2009

Employers, beware if you don’t stay on top of the intricacies of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The fact is, the law is still developing and employers that don’t keep up will be caught. Consider the following case involving the seemingly old question of “donning and doffing” clothing and gear before and after clocking in:

Outsourcing payroll? Be sure someone can explain the math

11/20/2009

These days, with employers having to do more with less, lots of companies outsource some functions that take a lot of time. If a vendor handles your payroll, make sure someone on the inside understands exactly how the outside provider calculates tricky things like overtime pay.

No inflation = no min. wage hikes; Colorado’s falls

11/16/2009

Ten states tie increases in the minimum wages to the inflation rate: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont and Washington. Since the cost of living has actually declined this year, none of those states will see an increase in their minimum wages.

Keep exempt status by authorizing discretion

11/11/2009

It’s a serious mistake to wrongly classify employees as exempt when they should be designated as hourly workers eligible for overtime. Be especially wary of one of the most common errors: Applying the exempt administrative classification to employees just because they perform nonmanual work directly related to the management or general business operations of the company.

Beware employee costs that bring wages below minimum

11/11/2009

Beware breaking wage-and-hour laws if you employ drivers who cover expenses for the vehicles they use to make deliveries. If your hourly rate minus those expenses yields a figure lower than the minimum wage, you may be violating the Fair Labor Standards Act.

What wage-and-hour records must we track?

11/09/2009

Q. What are my responsibilities as an employer for maintaining employees’ wage records?

What counts as a true meal break?

11/04/2009

Q. Sometimes we hold important meetings at lunch and provide food. An employee then takes her lunch hour after. Can we tell her she can’t do that?

Can we require an exempt employee to use vacation time to coach his son’s sports team?

11/02/2009

Q. One of our supervisors wants to coach his son’s basketball team and has asked to leave work an hour early twice a week. We told him we do not have a problem with leaving early, but that he would have to use vacation time to cover the time lost. He refuses to do that and says we cannot dock his pay for the two hours because he is a salaried supervisor. Is that right?

Must you pay for the commute? Sometimes, yes

10/28/2009

Q. One of our nonexempt employees is now working at a different location on Thursdays. This is a temporary assignment with no end date. It normally takes her 10 minutes to drive to work. But now she has to drive 90 minutes. Should she be paid for 1 hour and 20 minutes of travel time (subtracting her 10-minute normal commute)?

When figuring time worked, you must round in employee’s favor

10/27/2009

The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development (NJDOL) has changed its enforcement policy regarding the rounding of employees’ time for wage payment purposes. A recent letter from Theodore Easton, chief of enforcement for the NJDOL, confirmed that if a New Jersey employer rounds off any increment of time an employee has worked, it must now be done in the employee’s favor.