There is something interesting about watching an old, beloved show for the first time years after the release of its final season. You miss the excitement of watching new episodes contemporaneously with other fans. But if the show you’ve chosen months or years after the fact is indeed worth watching, you should enjoy it just as much as anyone else did. Recently, I started watched Monk, nearly fifteen years late, and I am already hooked.
Monk is the story of the enigmatic Adrian Monk (played by Tony Shalhoub), a former San Francisco homicide detective with severe OCD. Mr. Monk works as a private detective who helps the San Francisco Police Department, and others, solve stupefying murders. For the first three seasons of the show, Mr. Monk’s private nurse and personal assistant, Sharona Fleming (played by Bitty Schram) helps him manage his OCD, solve crimes, and navigate his hectic everyday life.
A recurring theme during the first season of Monk is that Mr. Monk fails to pay Sharona for her services. Sharona frequently confronts Mr. Monk regarding his failure to pay her wages. Although the show intends this as a humorous bit, there are real wage and hour law implications.
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is the primary federal wage and hour law. The FLSA applies to all employers in the United States whose annual gross volume of business done (or sales made) is not less than $500,000. Wages required by the FLSA are due on the regular payday for the relevant pay period. In addition to the FLSA, there are state and local laws that further regulate wage payment in the employer-employee relationship. For example, the California Labor Code requires that wages earned by “any person in any employment” be paid twice during each calendar month. Therefore, employers, like Mr. Monk, are required to timely pay their employees. Mr. Monk may not be covered by the FLSA, as it is unclear if he earns $500,000 or more in business volume. However, Mr. Monk is certainly covered by California’s Labor Code, and his failure to pay Sharona as required by the law is illegal. This is an important lesson, as employers must be aware of and compliant with not only federal wage and hour law, but also state and even local wage and hour laws. Mr. Monk should do some sleuthing into wage and hour laws that apply to him, lest his next mystery be why Sharona filed a wage claim for her unpaid wages.
Jake Koch is an associate at FordHarrison.