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

FLSA

FLSA doesn’t protect every crabby gripe about pay

10/30/2015
Employers can’t retaliate against workers who complain about alleged Fair Labor Standards Act violations. However, not every complaint about pay is protected.

Executive order: Federal contractors must provide paid sick leave

10/28/2015

On Labor Day, President Obama signed the latest in a string of executive orders applicable to employers that contract with the federal government. Executive Order 13706 will permit certain employees working on federal contracts to earn at least one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. According to a White House fact sheet, the new paid leave mandate will affect approximately 300,000 workers … and imposes substantial new obligations on many employers.

Are computer programmers exempt from overtime in California?

10/22/2015
Q. Our company needs to hire computer programmers to create, maintain, and update internal software, and to develop apps to give to our clients. I have heard about a “computer workers” exception from overtime. What exactly is the exception and can I apply it to my computer programmers?

New court ruling on internships recognizes reality for employers

10/21/2015
A court has rejected the DOL’s test to determine whether a worker is an intern or an employee, coming up with a simpler one.

Contractor pays high price for shorting prevailing wage

10/21/2015
Air Force contractor General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, based in San Diego, will pay 901 workers more than $945,000 after government auditors found the company had not paid them the prevailing wage mandated by the federal McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act.

Duties matter, not what business card says: Fancy title doesn’t make employee exempt

10/21/2015

What you call an employee doesn’t determine whether she’s properly classified as exempt. What matters are her duties. If they are routine and menial in nature, she’s not exempt, even if she holds a lofty title within the organization.

Fancy title doesn’t make employee exempt

10/21/2015

What you call an employee doesn’t determine whether she’s properly classified as exempt. What matters are her duties. If they are routine and menial in nature, she’s not exempt, even if she holds a lofty title within the organization.

New push to mandate predictable schedules

10/15/2015
While there are no federal rules that require employers to tell employees well in advance what their schedules will be, some states are beginning to change that.

Do help desk staffers qualify for the FLSA’s computer professional exemption?

10/13/2015
Q. My company is switching to a new technology platform that will require many hours’ worth of IT support at the help desk level. The job must be done quickly, but we don’t have the resources to hire new staff. I’ve heard “computer people” are exempt from overtime requirements. Is that true?

Workers’ comp: The new contractor risk

10/13/2015
Prepare to add another problem that has flown under most employers’ radar: The risk is that they will be slapped with a huge bill from their workers’ compensation insurers, demanding payment for workers’ comp coverage for all those independent contractors.