If you are a regular reader of this blog, you are hopefully familiar by now with the notion that exempt employees generally must be paid their full weekly salary for all workweeks in which they perform any work. There are certain limited exceptions to this rule. For example, if an exempt employee starts or ends
Can We Mandate Direct Deposit?
Q. We would like to require employees to accept pay via direct deposit. Is this permitted?
A. Direct deposit is an increasingly common method of paying employees, with numerous advantages for employees (fewer trips to the bank, no worry about losing a check) and employers (reduced cost and administrative hassle).
The Fair Labor Standards Act
Are Summer Camp Staff Exempt? [Lesser Known Exemptions]
Most regular readers of this blog will be familiar with the most common exemptions to the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act, those being the “white collar” exemptions for executive, administrative, and professional employees. However, the FLSA also contains a number of less well-known exemptions covering specific establishments or industries. In this post
Supreme Court Finds Pharmaceutical Representatives Exempt From Overtime
This morning the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that pharmaceutical representatives are “outside salesmen” exempt from the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Christopher v. Smithkline Beecham Corp. (.pdf).
This has been a hotly-contested issue in the courts and the subject of a split between the federal appellate courts, with the Ninth
Do Hours Worked On A Second Job Count Toward Overtime?
Q. An employee works for the company full-time, 7.5 hours per day, 5 days per week, at $20 per hour. To make ends meet, the employee also voluntarily works a different part-time job for the company on Saturdays, usually working an additional 7.5 hours at $15 per hour. The two jobs are completely separate and
Recovering Money From Employees Without Violating the FLSA
On June 4, the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division announced that a San Antonio-based car wash company has paid $246,438 in back wages to 308 employees following a DOL investigation. Among other things, the DOL found that the company had taken illegal deductions from employees paychecks for items including uniforms, insurance claims
Can Employees Agree to Be Exempt? [Wage & Hour FAQs]
Q. Our employees consider themselves “professionals” and don’t want to be treated as hourly workers. If our employees agree to it, can we still treat them as “exempt” even if they don’t meet all of the requirements under the FLSA or state law?
A. In a word, no. This question comes up more often than you might think. In some cases, particular industries have developed a practice of treating certain categories of employees as “salaried” and assuming that they are exempt. In others, employees would simply rather be “salaried” or “exempt” because this suggests a higher status than an “hourly” position, or because they prefer not to have to track their time.
Unfortunately for employers, an employee’s choice generally had nothing to do with whether or not the employee can legitimately be classified as “exempt” from overtime requirements under state and federal law. With very few exceptions, the rights provided by the Fair Labor Standards Act and its state equivalents can’t be waived or modified by an agreement with the employee.
So how can employers manage employee expectations without running afoul of the law? Continue Reading Can Employees Agree to Be Exempt? [Wage & Hour FAQs]
Paying On a “Salary Basis” Requires Actual Payments
As we have discussed before, to be considered an exempt executive, administrative, or professional employee, most employees must be paid on a “salary basis,” meaning that they receive a fixed salary for each workweek regardless of the number of hours worked or the quality or quantity of work performed. In a ruling that at
Are Homeless Hotspots Entitled To Minimum Wage?
If you are a fellow tech junkie, you may already have heard about the flap over a marketer’s use of homeless people as Internet hotspots at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive technology conference in Austin, Texas.
According to the New York Times, BBH Labs, a unit of international marketing agency BBH, recruited 13
Mario Batali Restaurants Settle Tip Pool Lawsuit For $5.25 Million
The latest news in celebrity chef wage and hour litigation is that eight New York restaurants owned by Mario Batali have agreed to settle $5.25 million to settle a class action lawsuit alleging that they illegally withheld tips from hourly service workers. The proposed settlement, which must still be approved by the court following a