The FLSA and the Flu
Well, so far it seems the H1N1 flu isn’t turning out to be the unmitigated public health disaster that some originally predicted, but the “P” word (pandemic) is still being tossed about. So the US DOL has issued Pandemic Flu and the Fair Labor Standards Act: Questions and Answers, a PDF-format document that lets employers know some of their options should we find ourselves facing a pandemic situation. In the event of an actual pandemic (flu or otherwise), you might find yourself coming up short on employees, or looking for alternative work arrangements — such as telecommuting or staggered s

FLSA Self-Audit Checklist
So, let’s say you’ve decided you need to audit your wage and hour practices and policies. Good for you! Seriously. Every business should from time to time, and there’s no time like the present. Now, you could hire someone to conduct the audit (there are good reasons to consider hiring your lawyer for the job). But perhaps money’s tight (as it is for most of us these days) and you’ve decided to try an FLSA self-audit to see if you can uncover anything on your own. Before you start, take a look at these two articles from the HR Daily Advisor. In

Sometimes Even The Government Gets It Wrong
You’d think government agencies would know the law as well as anybody, but when it comes to the complexities of wage and hour, it seems just about everybody gets confused now and then. Dateline New Haven, CT For instance, it seems the city of New Haven has got some pondering to do now that it turns out they have to pay police recruits overtime when they work more than 40 hours a week during their training. Up until recently, they’d been requiring trainees to come in early for physical conditioning, but they hadn’t been paying them

Sobering Statistics
In a speech on November 5 to the Wimberly Lawson Employment Law Update Conference in Knoxville, TN, wage and hour specialist Carol Merchant offered some sobering wage and hour related statistics for small and mid sized business owners. Ms. Merchant worked for the U.S. DOL for 33 years, and co-wrote the national training manual for investigators on developing litigation cases. So she knows whereof she speaks, and business owners would do well to listen up. The New Landscape of Wage and Hour For instance, those 250 new DOL wage and hour investigators you’ve heard about? To put the number in perspective, this represents a 33% increase in the number of inspectors

Still Trying to Clean House in California
Back in 2007, I reported on the case of California Maid Services and Carpet Cleaning in Gardenia, California. They were the company that got socked for $3.5 million in back wages and $1 million in wage and hour penalties for misclassifying 385 of their workers as “independent contractors” when they were, in fact, employees. Well, OK, that and not paying overtime, not paying minimum wage and not keeping any timekeeping records at all (much less adequate records). Time for an update. In September of 2008, payment had apparently still not been made, so lawyers for the DOL filed for c