In yesterday’s Advisor, Attorney Christine Walters, SPHR, covered classification and deduction challenges. Today, her take on inclement weather and DOL’s plans, plus an introduction to a unique checklist-based HR audit system.
Walters is an independent consultant with FiveL Company in Westminster, Maryland. Her remarks came at the recent Society for Human Resources Management Legal and legislative Conference in Washington, DC.
Let It Snow?!
Inclement weather always raises tricky questions for exempt employees, says Walters. Say that bad weather forces your company to close for the day. May you require exempt and nonexempt employees to use paid leave under the Fair Labor Standards Act? Yes, says Walters. If you provide such leave, which is not required by federal law, you may administer your leave program according to your policies.
For exempts, the federal government doesn’t care whether the pay is regular pay or vacation pay, as long as it’s the normal amount.
May you require exempt employees who have exhausted paid leave to go without pay for that day? No, says Walters. That would run afoul of the FLSA.
Meal Periods
May an employer properly have a practice whereby employees punch in and out at the start and end of the workday and the payroll system automatically deducts 30 minutes for an unpaid meal period?
Although such a system is permissible, it is inadvisable, Walters says. Check out hospitalovertime.com, Walters suggests, to see how attorneys are aggressively seeking out your employees who have worked through lunch periods.
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DOL Not Stopping Here
DOL’s plans may encourage even more wage and hour lawsuits. Walters notes that Wage and Hour’s regulatory agenda currently has proposed rules for:
- Child labor
- Nondisplacement of qualified workers under service contracts
- The Family and Medical Leave Act
- Records to be kept under the FLSA
- Other amendments to the FLSA
Furthermore, the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) intends to publish a final rule under the FLSA that will clean up many of the outdated regulations, Walters says. WHD also intends to publish proposed revisions to the FLSA recordkeeping regulations to update them and improve transparency, including a review of records required for employees who telecommute. This is projected to be proposed in August.
Meanwhile, says Walters, WHD recently hired 250 new investigators to boost the division’s ability to ensure compliance with wage and hour laws. As the new staffers are trained, the division will target industries in which vulnerable workers are employed, and it will work to respond to complaints in a timely manner.
Industries that employ vulnerable workers include agriculture, restaurants, janitorial, construction, and car washes, among others. (Emphasis added.)
DOL is also rolling out a new public service campaign, "We Can Help," to inform workers of their rights under wage and hour laws.
Unfortunately, expensive wage and hour mistakes are all too common, and there’s a throng of lawyers waiting to take you on when you make them. What’s your best defense? An HR audit is really the only way to dig down and see what’s happening. But for most HR managers, it’s hard to get started auditing—where do you begin?
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HR Audit Checklists compels thoroughness. For example, it contains checklists both on Preventing Sexual Harassment and on Handling Sexual Harassment Complaints. You’d likely never think of all the possible trouble areas without a checklist, but with it, just scan down the list and instantly see where you might get tripped up.
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In fact, housed in the HR Audit Checklists binder are dozens of extensive lists, organized into reproducible packets, for easy distribution to line managers and supervisors. There’s a separate packet for each of the following areas:
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HR Audit Checklists is available to HR Daily Advisor readers for a no-cost, no-risk evaluation in your office for up to 30 days. Visit HR Audit Checklists, and we’ll be happy to arrange it.
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