[Go here for failures 1 to 5.]
6. Failure to Pay Correctly
Yes, it’s the pay thing. Zandy’s danger zones are:
- Misclassification (exempt vs. nonexempt)
- Timesheets (in & out)
- Meetings (mandatory and unpaid?)
- Off-the-clock (off-duty helping on-duty)
- Travel
- Bonuses (discretionary vs. nondiscretionary)
The good news is plaintiffs’ lawyers are unlikely to take a case if time cards are acknowledged (this is accurate; there was no off-the-clock work, etc.). Zandy suggests that employers do all this on the management information system (MIS).
7. Failure to Apply Policies Consistently
Be fair, be consistent, and no surprises, says Zandy. Consistent application of policies and procedures is what it is all about. Failure to do so shows favoritism and provides credible evidence of discrimination or retaliation.
Employment claims are won and lost on circumstantial evidence, and this is a key component of that analysis.
The opposing attorney may start asking, “How about policy #17, do you uphold that?” “No,” you answer, “we have a different approach in practice.” “How about policy #34?” “Well, that’s changed because of budget reasons.” “So, you pick and choose which policies to follow? How convenient.” This sort of attack is obliterated by good documentation, Zandy says.
8. Failure to Follow up After Complaints
If employees complain, they want to know that their employer cares enough to look into their complaints. Even if the answer is not what the employee wants to hear, he or she will appreciate the effort. The follow-up is as important as the investigation, Zandy says. Take time to sit down with the employee and communicate findings and results.
Zandy has encountered several situations in which the employee says, “I complained and they did nothing,” when, in fact, there was a full investigation and punishment. The managers thought they couldn’t share because of confidentiality. NO, says Zandy; you can say “I can’t share the details, but we did investigate and took action.”
Follow up periodically for at least 6 months, possibly longer, Zandy says.
Are class action lawyers peering at your comp practices? It’s likely, but you can keep them at bay by finding and eliminating any wage and hour violations yourself. Our editors recommend BLR’s easy-to-use FLSA Wage & Hour Self-Audit Guide. Click here for details.
9. Failure to Administer Leave
Train managers on the FMLA? Good luck with that, Zandy says.
ADA/FMLA claims are at an all-time high, he adds, so train your managers and supervisors to be on the lookout for employees asking for an accommodation to job duties, for example, a reschedule due to something “medical” (injury, surgery, illness, etc.).
Instruct managers and supervisors to always maintain confidentiality of medical-related information, and to always send medical notes to HR. Zandy suggests that for all leave issues, managers and supervisors should:
Call HR! Call HR! Call HR! Call HR!
10. Failure to Treat Employees with Dignity and Respect
Employees want to be loved, and happy employees don’t sue!—says Zandy. Strive for:
- Open and honest two-way communications;
- Fair, consistent, and honest performance evaluations;
- Employee involvement opportunities;
- Individual (team and company) awards and appreciation for work; and
- Opportunities for career advancement.
From treating employees with respect to paying them correctly, comp management never sleeps. In fact, the numbers suggest that it’s likely that there are wage/hour violations in your workplace. Are some of your employees working off the clock or not getting the overtime to which they are entitled? There’s only one way to find out—audit before “they” do.
“They” might be the feds, your employees’ lawyers, or even bankers deciding you don’t get that loan because improperly classified workers represent a huge potential liability.
Yes, there’s only one way to find out what sort of wage and hour shenanigans are going on—regular audits.
To accomplish a successful audit, BLR’s editors recommend a unique checklist-based program called the Wage & Hour Self-Audit Guide®. Why are checklists so great? It is because they’re completely impersonal, and they force you to jump through all the necessary hoops, one by one. They also ensure consistency in how operations are conducted. And that’s vital in compensation, where it’s all too easy to land in court if you discriminate in how you treat one employee over another.
Experts say that it’s always better to do your own audit and fix what needs fixing before authorities do their audit. Most employers agree, but they get bogged down in how to start and, in the end, they do nothing. There are, however, aids to making FLSA self-auditing relatively easy.
What our editors strongly recommend is BLR’s Wage & Hour Self-Audit Guide®. It is both effective and easy to use, and it even won an award for those features. Here are some reasons our customers like it:
- Plain English. Drawing on 30 years of experience in creating plain-English compliance guides, our editors have translated FLSA’s endless legalese into understandable terms.
- Step-by-step. The book begins with a clear narrative of what the FLSA is all about. That’s followed by a series of checklists that utilize a simple question-and-answer pattern about employee duties to find the appropriate classification.
All you need to avoid exempt/nonexempt classification and overtime errors, now in BLR’s award-winning FLSA Wage & Hour Self-Audit Guide. Find out more.
- Complete. Many self-audit programs focus on determining exempt/nonexempt status. BLR’s also adds checklists on your policies and procedures and includes questioning such practices as whether your break time and travel time are properly accounted for. Nothing falls through the cracks because the cracks are covered.
- Convenient. Our personal favorite feature—a list of common job titles marked “E” or “NE” for exempt/nonexempt status. It’s a huge work saver.
Up to date.
If you are using an old self-auditing program, you could be in for trouble. Substantial revisions in the FLSA went into effect in 2004. Anything written before that date is hopelessly—and expensively—obsolete. BLR’s Wage & Hour Self-Audit Guide includes all the changes.