Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
A company has an agreement with workers that labels them “independent” contractors. That means they are, right? These days, the answer is a definite … maybe. These days, organizations frequently try to increase their workforce flexibility and decrease their benefit costs by hiring independent contractors to do required work. All well and good … unless […]
Per yesterday’s Advisor, the exempt/nonexempt designation can be terrifically important: To employees, to you, and to the government. Today we’ll look at two ways to make it simpler and easier. One of the easiest ways to deal with exemption issues is to use a chart, says attorney Tom Makris of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP […]
Overtime FLSA lawsuits are cropping up by the dozens—what’s behind them? And more important, what can you do to protect yourself? Which of your employees are exempt from being paid overtime? Which are not? Although the exemption rules are clearly laid out by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), in each exemption category—executive, administrative, computer, […]
In the last Advisor, we considered compensation challenges related to emergency closings. Today: Related hassles and the problem solver thousands of HR pros use to help them through it. In an emergency closure, ordinary procedures are usually disrupted. Here are key processes you need to have in place to keep things going: Notification Notification is […]
With April unofficially “national tornado and storm month,” this is a good time to think about having a policy for handling externally caused shutdowns. Here are things to think about. If a company opens an hour late because of a storm, should an employer pay employees who show up earlier because they didn’t hear the […]
You have no FLSA problems of any kind? Then it’s surely April Fools’ Day! Almost everyone has problems complying with this law. So what do you do when an FLSA audit reveals them? Let’s answer that … and alert you to an excellent self-audit guide to help you fix what needs fixing before it really […]
If you don’t do an FLSA wage and hour audit, someone else will, says attorney Tom Makris. And it won’t be just the government. These days, it could be a potential business partner … or even your banker. It started with mergers and acquisitions, says attorney Tom Makris. Now it’s spread to far more routine […]
Generally, if you dock the pay of exempt workers, you kill their exemption because you are treating them like nonexempts. You could easily owe a few years’ worth of overtime. But DOL does allow docking in certain circumstances. Here are those exceptions, along with a resource to make sure FLSA disasters don’t befall you. In […]
Because class action status can change a small comp issue into a massive lawsuit—one very attractive to contingency lawyers—Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) lapses could be your most dangerous mistakes. Here are 10 of the most common management moves that create Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) disasters. (Pay attention because you don’t want to be […]
FLSA audits are important, as we saw in yesterday’s Advisor, and we want to help you do them right, but first, note the one factor you absolutely must have in place, if you do one at all. In almost every case, you’re going to be ahead of the game—and the Department of Labor investigators—when you […]