Tag: FLSA

Exceptions for Docking Exempt Employee Pay

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The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) can cause a lot of difficulties for employers.  Thankfully, once you have successfully determined whether each of your employees is exempt or non-exempt, you are done, right?  Unfortunately not. Under the FLSA, you cannot base the amount of money you pay your salaried employees on the number of days or hours he or she works.  In other words, you generally cannot deduct money from an exempt employee’s paycheck for time off work.  But, surprise, surprise, there are exceptions to the general rule… You are permitted to dock an exempt employee’s pay: for a week when the employee does not perform any work for a day or days that the employee is absent for reasons[…]

Anatomy of a Wage and Hour Complaint

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When an employee believes that he or she has not been properly paid the minimum wage or overtime they may file a complaint for back wages under the Fair Labor Standards Act with the Department of Labor. The federal government set the minimum wage at $7.25 per hour. And when an employee works more than 40 hours in a week, he or she must be paid at a rate of 1 ½ times the regular rate of pay. However, it is important to note that not all employees are subject to the wage and hour rules of the FLSA. The FLSA only applies to non-exempt employees. The FLSA exempts an employer from both minimum wage and overtime pay for certain[…]

Let the Audits Begin

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Tax day is past, and now everyone can start worry about being audited. And while you may be worried about an IRS audit, you shouldn’t forget about the Department of Labor. The Fair Labor Standards Act gives the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division broad investigative authority to review employer records and conduct on-site inspections. Luckily, you can take some steps to prepare for a DOL audit and avoid a great deal of trouble (and expense) down the line. Review Job Descriptions You should be reviewing job descriptions periodically, just to make sure that the description matches the position. When conducting your wage and hour audit, you need to ensure that the people you are classifying as exempt are actually exempt.[…]

Properly Paying On Call Employees Under the FLSA

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The Fair Labor Standards Act requires you to pay your employees for time they actually spend working, whether they’re working on your property, at a client’s property, at home or anywhere else.  When evaluating whether wages are owed to your employees, the key inquiry is whether the employee is actually engaging in work. Some businesses, particularly those in the medical field or other fields where emergencies arise, have employees  “on call” for a certain period of time in addition to their actual work day. Under some circumstances, you may need to pay your on-call employees for their on-call time. When determining whether your employees’ on call time is compensable requires a case-by-case analysis. For example, if your is required to[…]