Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Happy New Year, readers. Here’s one resolution that you can easily keep—to audit your exemptions and pay practices (before the feds make good on their resolution to do it for you). If yours is like most organizations, you’ll get the biggest bang for your New Year’s buck with an FLSA audit. The astounding amounts of […]
Today we look at misclassification—the third of “The Big Three” compensation challenges (see yesterday’s Advisor for the other two)—and a new in-depth audio conference series that will answer the tricky technical questions about exemptions. Misclassification can lead to big-bucks fines and lawsuits. First, if you’ve misclassified one employee as exempt, you’ve probably misclassified many others […]
Wage and hour just shouldn’t be that hard, but the lawsuits keep coming, and the dollar amounts are staggering—especially when class actions amplify fees, fines, and judgments. What’s the problem? A number of factors make wage and hour a challenge: Many of the decisions about overtime, break time, meal time, and hours of work are […]
Is the CEO owed overtime? Absolutely, says attorney Phillip Russell. Every employee must be paid overtime unless he or she falls into one of the exemption classifications. While it is hard to imagine a non-exempt CEO, Russell was making the important point that job title alone does not determine whether an employee is exempt. Russell […]
There’s a new breed of plaintiff lawyer out there, says attorney Phillip Russell, and they are not looking for the companies with 1,000 employees—they’re happy to find 10 or 15 employees working off the clock or due unpaid overtime. Russell is a member of the Tampa, Florida, office of national employment law firm Constangy, Brooks […]
In yesterday’s Advisor, we discussed the “overtime revolution” and hit some common overtime violations. Today, more violations and the announcement of an audio conference that will help insulate you from overtime lawsuits. As we said yesterday, overtime violations, easy as they should be to avoid, just keep coming and coming. And many involve high-dollar settlements. […]
Changes to overtime rules have been in place since 2004 , yet employers are getting tripped up for big-dollar lawsuits with increasing frequency. What’s up with that? Just a few examples from recent headlines: • McLand, a wholesale distributor of food and grocery products, pays $1.5 million in overtime to “retail merchandising specialists.” • Allied […]
Wage and hour questions should be simple, but every comp manager knows they’re not. What to do … especially when you have to depend on low-level supervisors to manage things? First, let’s finish explaining the minimum wage change, then talk about how to keep comp in compliance. In yesterday’s Advisor, we covered states affected by […]
It’s time to check with payroll to make absolutely sure that you are geared up for the change in the federal minimum wage. The second of three increases will take effect on Thursday (July 24, 2008). The impact on employers may vary depending on the state in which employees work. This Thursday, July 24, the […]
As seen in yesterday’s Advisor, the determination of independent contractor status can be tricky. Today: DOL’s top contractor problem spots, and a guide that picks up your FLSA problems before the feds do. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) points out the following particular problem areas for employers when it comes to determining whether a […]