The Employer Handbook Blog
Roman Oleinik, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
If this isn’t karma, friends, I don’t know what is. Continue reading
Articles Posted in Overtime
Here’s hoping employers in states like PA paid nonexempt employees for COVID-19 temperature checks at work. Otherwise…
Technically, Pennsylvania is a Commonwealth. But that’s not really the point of this post. So, I’ll digress.
Like ordering a cheesesteak with Swiss, employee-friendly OT rules just aren’t meant to be in PA
Let’s face it. Unlike its neighbor, New Jersey, a/k/a the California of the East, not many would label the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania an employee-friendly state. Continue reading
Secretary of Labor to Congress: The salary level cutoff for overtime is too low. We’re changing it.
I still get a kick out of people using the term “salary exempt,” as in, we pay that employee a salary, so s/he isn’t eligible for overtime. Under the Fair Labor Standard Act, a salary is just one of several components of an overtime exemption to avoid having to pay employees time and a half when they work more than 40 hours in a workweek. Plus, the salary must be at least $684 per week, equating to $35,568 per year.
Except, that could be increasing significantly soon. Continue reading
DON’T DO THIS: Enslave an employee
Image by analogicus from Pixabay
Common sense dictates that, as human beings, we refrain from certain activities. For example, neither cuddling with a porcupine nor housebreaking a skunk are good ideas. You don’t need a lawyer to tell you that. Continue reading
Members of Congress want “bold action” from the new Labor Secretary. (Like overtime for anyone making under $1,591/week!!!))
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Several members of Congress have asked new Secretary of Labor Martin J. Walsh to require American businesses to pay overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act to anyone making less than $1,591 per week (equivalent to $82,732 per year for a full-year worker) who works more than 40 hours in a workweek. $82,732 per year is the 55th percentile of earnings of full-time salaried workers nationwide.
So, yeah, whoa! Continue reading
Here’s how to compensate employees that split their day between the office and telework
Image by Carlos Insignares from Pixabay
Let’s say that some of your non-exempt employees choose to telework for part of the day and work at the office for part of the day, with enough time to perform personal tasks in between. Do you have to compensate them for the travel time between home and office?
Let’s check out some hypothetical scenarios.
Let’s explore piece rates, the FLSA, and the best music videos of the 80s.
No, I haven’t been drinking. Continue reading
One HR lesson from two exotic dancers on misclassifying employees as independent contractors.
Lantay77 at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
It’s getting hot in herrrrrrrrrrrrre!
Well, tepid. It’s an employment law blog, after all. Continue reading
Why countersuing an employee can be a recipe for disaster!
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Rarely — and by “rarely,” I mean usually — I’ll have an employer client ask me about countersuing an employee that has just sued the company.
First, you’re probably just throwing good money after bad. But, I generally don’t debate this with my more “principled” clients — at least the ones willing to pay me a large retainer 😉.
But, there’s a bigger issue. Continue reading