Since the U.S. DOL published its new overtime exemption rules, several people have asked me how one goes about converting a salary to an hourly rate that will give employees about the same amount of pay once overtime is factored in. There are really two parts to this calculation – one quite simple, the other … Continue Reading
Over the last few months we’ve been asked on an almost daily basis when the DOL will be publishing its hotly anticipated white collar exemption rules. The short answer is still, we don’t know. A few months ago, the word was “late 2016,” which made some sense due to the extremely high volume of comments the DOL … Continue Reading
Waiting is the hardest part. Ever since the Department of Labor issued its proposal to substantially increase the minimum salary level needed to classify an employee as an exempt executive, administrative or professional employee, employers have been asking when the new rules will take effect. This is not an academic question: many organizations have long … Continue Reading
As you undoubtedly know by now, the Department of Labor’s Wage & Hour Division (WHD) finally announced its long-promised proposal to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) Regulations and, in particular, those governing the “white collar” exemption for executive, administrative, and professional employees. For our comprehensive discussion of the changes in the DOL’s Notice … Continue Reading
At the end of last year, we discussed the Pay Period Leap Year and what it means for employers. If your first weekly paychecks will issue on Thursday, January 1, 2015, you will have a fifty-third pay period on December 31, 2015. If your first bi-weekly paychecks will issue on Thursday, January 1, 2015, you … Continue Reading
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 … Continue Reading
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 … Continue Reading
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 first … Continue Reading
Q. A salaried, exempt employee who recently returned from a week of unpaid FMLA leave claims that he is entitled to be paid his full salary for entire week because he responded to a number of work-related e-mails and telephone calls while he was out. Do we have to pay? A. Wage and hour law is … Continue Reading
Q. One of our salaried exempt employees appears to have violated our sexual harassment policy. We would like to suspend him without pay for 3 days. Is this allowed under the FLSA? A. Maybe, but check your state’s laws as well. With a few specific exceptions, employees whose duties qualify them as executive, administrative and … Continue Reading
Q. Our holiday pay policy says that employees must be at work the day before and the day after a holiday. Our office is closed Thursday and Friday for Thanksgiving. If an exempt employee works Monday and Tuesday but calls in “sick” on Wednesday, can we deny the employee holiday pay? A. Many employers have policies … Continue Reading
Another in our series of answers to questions from our September 28 webinar on wage and hour law in higher education: Q. If an exempt employee only works a half day, i.e. they go home sick at noon, and they have both sick and vacation leave available, can we require that they use four hours of leave … Continue Reading
Reading about a recent lawsuit filed against Groupon, I was reminded that even the most cutting edge businesses may not understand the nuances associated with calculating overtime and find themselves a target for running afoul of wage and hour laws. My colleague and fellow blogger, Bill Pokorny, wrote a helpful blog entry last week on … Continue Reading
Q. We have a number of non-exempt employees who are nevertheless paid a salary. How do we calculate overtime for these employees? A. The question above is a positive sign, because if you find yourself asking it you’ve passed the first hurdle of realizing that not all “salaried” employees are exempt from the overtime requirements … Continue Reading
