FLSA
Holding On, Loosely: Incentives for Employee Retention
Let’s talk about problems with retention bonuses and overtime—as if finding qualified workers wasn’t tough enough. According to the most recent report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nonfarm employment rose by 428,000 in April 2022. However, some sectors are still struggling and “now hiring” or “help wanted” signs are everywhere. As a result, many…
Read MoreSCOTUS to Hear FLSA Overtime Claim From Worker Who Earned $200K a Year
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear an appeal of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision that Helix Energy Solutions Group, an oil and gas company, owed overtime pay to a former supervisor whom the court deemed non-exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act (Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. v. Hewitt, No. 21-984 (U.S.…
Read MoreDOL Overtime Claims Are on the Rise
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is recovering an increasing amount of damages in overtime claims as it goes after employers that are misclassifying workers or miscalculating overtime. The Biden administration has signaled a shift in focus away from compliance and toward enforcement. One of the earliest indications of that shift was the termination of…
Read MoreDepartment of Labor to Add 100 Wage and Hour Investigators
The U.S. Department of Labor will add 100 investigators to support its Wage and Hour Division, the agency announced Feb. 1. Investigators will conduct investigations to ensure workers are receiving their full wages, promote compliance through outreach and public education programs and aid in efforts to fight against worker retaliation and the misclassification of workers…
Read MoreAutomatic Gratuities Aren’t Tips Under the FLSA, 4th Cir. Says
Automatic gratuities are not tips as defined by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled (Wai Tom v. Hospitality Ventures LLC No. 18-2509 (4th Cir. Nov. 24, 2020)). Though their hourly wage, tips and automatic gratuities exceeded the FLSA’s minimum-wage and overtime requirements, servers at a North Carolina restaurant…
Read MoreLabor Department Issues More Coronavirus-Related Workplace Guidance
As the COVID-19 crisis continues, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has issued more guidance for workers and employers about their rights and responsibilities under federal leave and wage and hour laws. On July 20, the DOL added new questions and answers to pandemic-related issues under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Family and…
Read MorePay Parity: What Is It and How Does an Employer Get There?
Fair compensation requires both awareness and action………… Most HR leaders have heard disheartening statistics about the gender pay gap. PayScale, for example, reported in its Gender Pay Gap Report for 2020 that women make only $0.81 for every dollar men make. And the World Economic Forum has estimated that it will take more than 100…
Read MoreAcademic Studies Diverge on Salary History Bans’ Effects on Worker Pay
States and cities are increasingly barring employers from asking about job applicants’ salary histories with the aim of closing pay gaps, but it remains to be seen whether those laws are having the intended effect, according to recent research. An analysis of salary history bans published earlier this month by researchers at the Boston University…
Read MoreThe Nitty-Gritty of the FLSA’s Overtime Requirements
Imagine a pet store fired one of its workers. The worker, whom we’ll call Rich, is upset — no more paycheck and no more playtime with the animals. He decides to sit down with an attorney, who probes him about how the pet store paid him. Rich made $11 an hour and generally worked 40…
Read MoreFrom Overtime to Meal Breaks, HR’s FLSA Handbook
We have compiled eight stories that encapsulate the most important pieces of recent FLSA news and highlight the insights pay professionals need to understand them. When employers run afoul of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), costly remediation can follow. In 2019, a judge ordered Steak ‘n Shake to pay $7.7 million in liquidated damages to the…
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