Tag: FLSA

Smart Compensation Strategies for Small Employers: How to Maximize Your Budget

What’s Different About “Small Business”? When it comes to running compensation, small business have several challenges, says Wudyka, who is managing principal of Westminster Associates in Wrentham, Massachusetts. His tips came during a recent webinar sponsored by BLR. Small businesses, he says: Need “flexibility.” Small businesses need flexibility in anything they do when it comes […]

Practice Tip — Keep Four Key Elements of the FLSA in Mind: Faith, Liability, Statute of Limitations and Anti-Retaliation

The broad scope of the Fair Labor Standards Act provides seemingly endless opportunities for debate. The fact that the Supreme Court agreed to hear Christopher v. SmithKline Beecham Corp. later this year (a case out of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit involving worker classification) on the heels of its ruling in […]

PTO Plans vs. Traditional: Plusses and Pitfalls

Absences, like terminations, can be voluntary or involuntary; however, unlike terminations the distinction between voluntary and involuntary absences is not typically determined by who initiates the absence, says Hagan, who is a partner in the Dallas office of Sarles & Ouimet, LLP. He made his suggestions at a recent BLR webinar. Involuntary absences are employee […]

Labor Dept. Urges High Court to Accept Narrow Definition of Sales Reps

By Khristine Scholtz The U.S. Labor Department, continuing its push for a narrow definition of outside salesmen, argued in a friend of the court brief that the outside-sales exemption is limited to employees who make their own sales. At issue is whether pharmaceutical sales representatives must be paid for working overtime hours, or are exempt […]

Paterno Responses Range from ‘Despicable’ to ‘Very Well Written’

There was, however, one resounding commonality. Overwhelmingly, readers showed distain for the manner of Paterno’s termination—over the phone after 61 years of service. There’s a sampling of the comments below; readers may also want to read the original article or read all the comments in their entirety. A Sampling of Comments Your article—and all the […]

California Joins With DOL to Fight Independent Contractor Fraud; Pacts Also Signed By 11 Other States

California is the most recent state to enter into a pact with the U.S. Labor Department aimed at cracking down the improper classification of employees as independent contractors. Nancy J. Leppink, deputy administrator of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, and California Labor Commissioner Julie A. Su announced their recently signed memorandum […]

Labor Seeks New Funding to Boost FLSA, FMLA Enforcement in 2013

The Obama Administration’s proposed 2013 budget  includes funding to hire 92 additional Wage and Hour Division investigators. The budget would allocate $6.4 million to hire investigators to enforce the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act, said Nancy Leppink, acting WHD administrator during a webchat on Monday. The funding would allow […]

Retaliation Roulette (a game we don’t want to play)

Most employment laws include provisions protecting employees from vindictive managers who would otherwise punish them for exercising their rights. The Fair Labor Standards Act is no exception. The Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division takes the anti-retaliation provisions of the FLSA seriously enough that it released a fact sheet (WHD Fact Sheet #77A) in December […]

FLSA Recordkeeping Requirements

Perhaps the most important of employer records, personnel and payroll records are often subject to heightened scrutiny in terms of both legal protection and corresponding enforcement activity by regulatory agencies. Consequently, proper maintenance of these records is of the utmost importance.