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The Employer Handbook BlogAs if restaurants haven’t endured enough already, the DOL just announced an 80/20 rule on steroids.
Gary J. Wood, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Do you have tipped employees? Continue reading
Articles Posted in Wage and Hour
Let’s answer some of your COVID-19 return to work questions. The Zoom Office Hour returns this Friday, 6/25 at Noon ET
Image by StartupStockPhotos from Pixabay
Last Wednesday, as part of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s EXCEL Conference, three of us (me and two of the EEOC’s education and outreach coordinators) gazed into our crystal ball to predict some of the issues that employers will face as more employees return to the workplace. 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: Misclassify your employees as independent contractors
United States Department of Commerce and Labor, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
While not quite as outrageous as slavery, ignorance, or misogyny, today’s edition of “Don’t Do This” will apply most practically to readers of this blog. 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 a tip. Expect significant changes to the DOL’s previously-proposed employee tipping rules.
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Nan Palmero from San Antonio, TX, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
I know a guy.
(Ok, I got a press release.) Continue reading
In a move that no one saw coming, the Biden DOL plans to 86 the joint employer and proposed independent contractor rules
Oh, how embarrassing! Let me fix that blog post title.
In a move that no one anyone with half a brain or a faint pulse saw coming, the Biden DOL will eliminate the joint employer and proposed independent contractor rules.
There, that’s better.
It’s official! Second chances and clean slates for wage-and-hour violators are over at the DOL.
Image Credit: Photofuinia.com
In 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor began allowing employers to self-report wage and hour violations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and pay 100% of the wages owed to workers. In exchange, DOL would not assess liquidated damages, which would otherwise equal 100% of the wages. Plus, the employer would be immunized from private lawsuits.
It was all part of the Payroll Audit Independent Determination (PAID) program.
Now PAID is DEAD! Continue reading
The CDC has a new vaccine communication COVID-19 toolkit. Plus, President Biden proposes even MORE employment law changes. 😱
Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay
Last week, I shared with you eight ways that President Biden changed employment law on Day One. It took me a while to cobble together that post. So, I was kind of hoping that “46” would take a few days off or something so that I could unwind in the blogcuzzi without worrying about any new Biden/HR content for this week.
No such luck. Continue reading