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Articles Posted in Wage and Hour

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When employees claim that your company failed to pay their overtime, you win if your company does this.

The Fair Labor Standards Act requires employers to pay covered nonexempt workers overtime pay at a rate not less than one and one-half times the regular rate of pay after 40 hours of work in a workweek. So what happens when employees claim not to receive premium overtime pay despite…

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A new bill in Congress aims to restore OVERTIME protections for employees to “HISTORIC LEVELS.”

Federal law requires most companies to pay minimum wage and overtime pay for employees unless they qualify for an exemption. Employees generally must meet certain tests regarding their job duties and get a salary of at least $684 per week, which works out to just $35,568 per year. But a new overtime…

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Do employers risk violating the FLSA by reducing PTO? Is it part of an employee’s salary?

Those were the critical issues in a precedential decision that the Third Circuit Court of Appeals issued yesterday. So let’s talk about it. Generally speaking, a federal law called the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) says that people who earn an hourly wage can get overtime (one-and-a-half times their regular hourly wage for…

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A federal appellate court using Homer Simpson to explain wage and hour law?!? Woo hoo!!

Benoît Prieur, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons Fair Labor Standards Act lawsuits aren’t exactly fodder for Silver Screen blockbusters. In a recent decision from the Middle District of Pennsylvania — not known as a Hollywood pipeline — the question was whether donning and doffing basic personal protective equipment (“PPE”) was “integral and indispensable”…

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How can an employee make $200K, PLUS overtime?!? The Supreme Court explains…

Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay A company operating an offshore oil rig paid one of its “tool pushers” anywhere from $963 to $1,341 per day. His paycheck, issued every two weeks, amounted to his daily rate times the number of days he had worked in the pay period. So if…

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Let’s talk about whether you are paying teleworking employees properly.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Field Assistance Bulletin on employee telework is the blogging gift that keeps on giving. Last week, we addressed how to determine whether a remote employee is FMLA-eligible. Today, let’s get when you have to pay nonexempt remote workers for break time. In general, the FLSA…

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Don’t sleep on state wage and hour laws in 2023, especially if you are a multi-state employer.

I like to tell people who will listen to me, which frequently isn’t even my kids, that I can go into most workplaces and sleuth out at least one wage-and-hour violation. The Fair Labor Standards Act, the complex federal wage-and-hour law, contains many hidden traps that ensnare even the most…

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You might have to pay employees to turn on and watch their computers boot up.

I’m hitting this technology theme hard this week. And why shouldn’t I?!? We’ve got a banger edition of The Employer Handbook Zoom Office Happy Hour set for Noon ET on Friday, November 4, 2022. Along with a team of cyber-risk, privacy, and data security attorneys from FisherBroyles, we will present Cybersecurity 101 for HR Professionals…

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When do employers risk FLSA violations by raising and lowering hourly wage rates?

The Fair Labor Standards Act can present a minefield for even the savviest wage-and-hour gurus. Last night, I read a Pennsylvania federal court decision that helps clarify when employers can (and can’t) adjust employee pay rates. The FLSA requires employers to pay non-exempt employees one-and-one-half times their regular pay rate…

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There’s retaliation, and then there’s beating up the complainant and sending him to the emergency room

The Fair Labor Standards Act makes it unlawful for employers to retaliate against employees who complain about violations of the FLSA. However, I don’t think the drafters of the law considered physical assault as a form of retaliation. But the U.S. Department of Labor is now suing two employers and…