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Labor
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£117,000 in back wages for overtime
An employer in Fife, Washington, has agreed to pay $117,468 in back wages to 154 employees following an investigation by the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor in Seattle. The investigation found that game operators, food service employees and cashiers were not paid overtime as required by federal law. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires that employees be paid one-and-one-half times their regular rate of pay for work hours in excess of 40 per week.
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...back to 21 October 2004
Further information:
www.dol.gov/esa/.../2004130.xml
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Draft Regulations to Safeguard Service Members' Jobs and Benefits
The Department of Labor has announced that it has published draft regulations in the Federal Register that interpret the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act of 1994 (USERRA). This is the first time regulations have been developed to help enforce USERRA since passage of the law in 1994.
The regulations explain how USERRA protects against discrimination and retaliation because of military service. It also prevents service members from suffering disadvantages due to performance of their military obligations and affords them ample time to report back to their jobs following completion of their service obligations.
The "escalator" principle applies to all aspects of the service member's return to the work force. The returning service member therefore should be restored to "a position which, on the moving escalator of terms and conditions affecting that particular (preservice) employment, would be comparable to the position which he would have held if he had remained continuously in his civilian employment". (Oakley v. Louisville &Nashville R.R., 338 U.S. 278, 283 (1949)
The draft regulations implement the escalator principle for purposes of determining the reemployed service member's rate of pay and also address the various elements of compensation that often compose the returning service member's "rate of pay". There are various types of compensation that may make up the employee's overall compensation package under the escalator principle. The list is not exclusive; any compensation, in whatever form, that the employee would have received with reasonable certainty if he or she had remained continuously employed should be considered an element of compensation. The returning employee's rate of pay may therefore include pay increases, differentials, step increases, merit increases, periodic increases, or performance bonuses.
In some workplaces, merit pay increases are conditional on the employee passing a skills or performance evaluation. The employer should allow a reasonable period of time for the employee to become settled in the escalator position before such an evaluation is administered. So that employees are not penalized financially for their military service, they must be reemployed at the higher rate of pay, assuming that it is reasonably certain that they would otherwise have attained the merit pay increase during their period of military service.
In determining rate of pay, as in other situations, application of the escalator principle may leave the returning service members with less than they had before performing service. Thus, if non-discriminatory adverse changes in the employment position's pay structure would with reasonable certainty have lowered the compensation rate during the period of service if they had remained continuously employed, the escalator principle may operate to diminish the returning service members' pay.
The DOL has asked for comments on all aspects of these draft regulations, with a deadline of November 19, 2004.
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...back to 23 September 2004
Further information:
www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/vets/VETS20041820.htm
www.regulations.gov/fredpdfs/04-20844.pdf
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Advisory tool for overtime security rule
The Office of Compliance Assistance Policy has launched an additional Internet-based tool to help employers comply with the new Overtime Security Rule. For each of the main employment categories, the enquirer is given basic information about the rules relevant to that category and is taken through a series of statements that describe the different ways in which the employee might be paid, leading to the appropriate conclusion on entitlement to the FLSA minimum wage and overtime provisions.
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...back to 9 September 2004
Further information:
www.dol.gov/elaws/overtime.htm
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$1.9 million in back wages for overtime
Global Building Services Inc. has agreed to pay $1.9 million in back wages to 775 employees following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor and the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement. The investigation found that employees were not paid overtime as required by federal law. The affected workers provided janitorial services to Target stores located throughout California as well as in parts of Arizona, Nevada and Texas and New Mexico.
The investigation of Global Building Services by the Department's Wage and Hour Division revealed that workers were paid a fixed hourly wage, usually in cash, for all hours worked. The affected employees, most of whom are Hispanic, typically worked eight hours per day, six or seven days per week. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires that employees be paid one-and-one-half times their regular rate of pay for work hours in excess of 40 per week.
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...back to 9 September 2004
Further information:
www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/opa/OPA2004SF105.htm
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"Seaman" entitled to overtime?
The Labor Department has filed a "friend of the court" brief on behalf of a low-wage worker who, according to the federal district court in Boston, Massachusetts, was not entitled to overtime compensation under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The court had concluded that Megan McLaughlin, who worked as a deckhand with Boston Harbor Cruise Lines, Inc., was not entitled to overtime compensation because of a "seaman" exemption under the Act.
The department argued that its interpretation of the seaman exemption, which has been in effect for 65 years, required that to be exempt from overtime protection the employee must aid in the transportation or navigation of the vessel. McLaughlin alleged that she primarily performed duties such as taking passengers' tickets. The department has requested that the case be remanded to the district court so that it can make further findings of fact and then apply the department's legal interpretation to those facts.
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...back to 2 September 2004
Further information:
www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/opa/OPA20041730.htm
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Overtime rules take effect on August 23
The Department of Labor's new overtime security rules are now in force and strengthen and protect overtime pay for 6.7 million American workers. The changes were reviewed in our newsletter of April 22, 2004. (See New overtime rights for millions of employees )
The new rules expand the number of workers eligible for overtime by nearly tripling the salary threshold. Under the previous 50-year-old regulations, only workers earning less than $8,060 annually or $155 per week were guaranteed overtime. Under the new rules, workers paid less than $23,660 or $455 per week are now automatically guaranteed overtime regardless of their titles or duties. A number of salaried workers earning above this threshold also gain the right to overtime. This provides overtime protection for 1.3 million salaried white collar workers who were not entitled to overtime pay under the previous regulations. The changes will cost businesses an additional $375 million each year.
Hourly workers are guaranteed overtime regardless of how much they are paid. Blue collar and manual laborers and workers, such as construction workers, operating engineers, carpenters, and longshoremen are also guaranteed overtime under these newly effective rules. Police, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, licensed practical nurses and other first responders now have strengthened overtime protections. Union workers under collective bargaining agreements are not impacted.
The DOL's Fairpay website provides various resources to help employers understand and apply the new rules. Several new facilities have been added, including
- new fact sheets on the Administrative Duties Tests, Construction Workers and Journalists and Reporters
- side-by-side comparisons of the old and new tests for executive, administrative, professional, computer and outside sales employees
- a series of 15 frequently asked questions
- a model salary basis policy for employers
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...back to 26 August 2004
Further information:
www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/opa/OPA20041674.htm
www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/fairpay/main.htm
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New overtime rules
The new "FairPay" rules, extending the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act to workers earning less than $23,660 per year, or $455 per week, come into force on August 23, 2004.
To help employers understand the implications of the new rules for different occupational groups, and to be familiar with the exemptions, the Department of Labor has introduced a new "FairPay" section to its website. Among the resources available are online training and video seminars that can be downloaded for use in the workplace.
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...back to 17 June 2004
Further information:
www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/esa/ESA20041081.htm
www.dol.gov/fairpay
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Recovery of back wages
The Dallas and San Francisco regional offices of the Department of Labor report several successful cases where back wages have been recovered for workers:
- $16,307 for 13 employees of a retail dry cleaning establishment, for failure to pay overtime rates and keep accurate time and payroll records
- $147,153 for 32 former and current driver and dispatchers of a limousine company, also for failure to pay overtime rates and keep proper records
- $244,618 for 202 former and current medics, ambulance drivers and rescue workers from the City of Austin's Emergency Medical Services Department, for failure to pay overtime rates
- $429,041 for 301 mechanics, technicians and range specialists working for federal service contractor, for failure to wages and fringe benefits prevailing in the locality where the work is performed
- $27,058 for 27 employees of a fashion jewelry manufacturer, for failure to pay overtime rates and maintain accurate records. The company attempted to disguise the prohibited practice by paying employees by check for a standard 40-hour workweek, and paying them in cash at the standard hourly rate for any additional work hours.
- $127,808 for 98 workers of a landscape company, for failure to pay overtime rates of pay
- $37,631 for 13 workers of a landscape architecture firm, for failure to pay overtime rates and keep accurate records of hours worked.
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...back to 3 June 2004
Further information:
www.dol.gov/esa/media/press/whd/dallas/default.asp
www.dol.gov/esa/media/press/whd/sanfrancisco/default.asp
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$147,153 in Back Wages for 32 Drivers and Dispatchers in Dallas
Carey Limousine Dallas Inc. in Dallas has paid $147,153 in back overtime wages after a U.S. Department of Labor investigation found that 32 former and current drivers and dispatchers had not been properly paid.
The investigation, conducted by the department's Wage and Hour Division, covered a two-year period to October 2003 and determined that Carey Limousine had violated the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act by not properly paying the employees overtime wages equal to one and one-half times their regular rate of pay for the hours they worked.
Most of the employees were paid a salary, or by commission, without any overtime compensation. However, the employees were entitled to the overtime pay because they worked more than 40 hours a week.
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...back to 27 May 2004
Further information:
www.dol.gov/esa/.../2004937.xml
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Job Corps students to visit UK
Six Job Corps students have been selected to travel abroad to learn more about the United Kingdom's Work and Pensions Office JobCentre Plus program for youth. The tour, which runs from May 10 through May 22, is part of the New Deal Student Exchange Program and follows a similar visit here by UK JobCentre Plus students who spent time at three Job Corps Centers around the nation.
From April 24 through May 8, United Kingdom Jobcentre Plus students traveled in pairs to participating U.S. Job Corps Centers, shadowing their student counterparts. That hospitality will be reciprocated over the next two weeks as the American students familiarize themselves with UK employment practices.
Job Corps is the nation's oldest and largest federally funded job training and education program for economically disadvantaged youth ages 16 through 24. Established in 1964, Job Corps has trained and educated more than two million young people to date, serving nearly 65,000 young adults each year. Students receive hands-on training in more than 100 occupational areas, including healthcare, construction and related fields, culinary arts and business and technology-related industries.
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...back to 20 May 2004
Further information:
www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/ETA2004856.htm
http://jobcorps.doleta.gov/
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New overtime rights for millions of employees
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) guarantees minimum rights for employees, including a minimum wage of not less than $5.15 per hour and overtime pay at a rate of not less than time and a half after 40 hours of work in a workweek.
Certain workers, in particular those in "white collar" occupations, are exempt from the overtime rules because their occupation is exempt or because they earn more than $8,060 annually. These exemptions, introduced over 50 years ago, are to be replaced, from August 2004, with new rules that increase the earnings threshold to $23,660, strengthen overtime protection for 6.7 million salaried workers and provide overtime rates for 1.3 million salaried workers for the first time.
Under the provisions of the FLSA and its implementing regulations, employees are exempt from the minimum wage and overtime requirements if they are guaranteed a minimum weekly salary, set at $155 since 1975, and perform certain defined job duties, unchanged for 55 years. The existing rules are complex and create anomalies, for example, allowing a "white collar" employee earning only $8,060 to be classified as an "executive" and denied overtime pay, whereas another employee may earn $10,700 for working just 40 hours each week at the minimum wage.
There are still exemptions from the overtime pay provisions under the new rules, but these are tightly defined. Exemption is not defined simply in terms of job titles; rather it is based on whether an employee's salary and duties meet the requirements of the regulations.
The salary level required for exemption increases the current $155 per week minimum salary level to $455 per week. Otherwise, the types of employees who are exempt fall into the following categories, each of which is carefully defined in terms of their duties:
- executive employees, whose primary duty is the management of the enterprise, direction of two or more employees, and authority to hire and fire
- administrative employees, whose primary duty is the performance of office or non-manual work directly related to the management or general business operations of the employer or the employer's customers
- professional employees, whose primary duty is the performance of work requiring knowledge of an advanced type or invention, imagination, originality or talent
- computer employees, whose primary duty involves system analysis, system or program design, or combinations of such duties (but excluding employees engaged in the manufacture or repair of computers, or whose work is highly dependent on computers)
- outside sales employees, whose primary duty is making sales or obtaining orders or contracts for services (but the salary condition does not apply in this case).
Employees with a total annual compensation of at least $100,000 are also exempt if they customarily and regularly perform any one or more of the exempt duties or responsibilities of an executive, administrative or professional employee.
Workers to whom the exemptions specifically do not apply include
- manual laborers or other "blue collar" workers who perform work involving repetitive operations with their hands, physical skill and energy
- police officers, fire fighters, paramedics, emergency medical technicians and similar public safety employees.
Such workers are not exempt because their primary duty is not that of an executive, administrative or professional employee.
Further information:
www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/fairpay/main.htm
www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/fairpay/preamble.htm
www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/fairpay/regulations.htm
...back to 22 April 2004
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Failure to keep labor records
Back wages of £35,000 are to be paid to 31 butchers, taco makes and bakers for unpaid overtime, in an agreement reached between two specialty grocery outlets and the Department of Labor. The DOL claimed that the business had failed to keep accurate records of hours worked by employees, as required under the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act.
Where false or inaccurate records are provided to investigators or when records have been destroyed, the DOL may reconstruct the amount of back wages owed to employees based on other evidence, such as information provided by employees.
Further information:
www.dol.gov/esa/...=seattle/2004039
...back to 8 April 2004
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Benefits of hiring workers with disabilities
The Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) has issued a reminder to employers of the many benefits in hiring people with disabilities. Companies can utilize the skills and superior qualifications of the large pool of disabled workers, and also take advantage of the tax breaks available to them for hiring people with disabilities.
It appears that very few businesses take advantage of the available tax credits to encourage the hiring, retention, and accommodation of workers with disabilities. Up to $5,000 is available under the Small Business Tax Credit, up to $15,000 under the Architectural/Transportation Tax Deductions, and up to $2,400 under the Work Opportunity Tax Credit.
Further information:
www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/opa/OPA2004578.htm
...back to 8 April 2004
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Breaches of child labor law
The DOL's Wage and Hour Division has assessed penalties amount to over $22,000 to a supermarket for allowing under-aged youths to operate hazardous equipment and work during hours prohibited by the child labor provisions of the FLSA.
Investigators found that store managers allowed workers under the age of 18 to drive cars for company business, operate the box baler and clean the meat grinder, slicer and saw blades. A review of company records showed that several youths under the age of 16 worked more than three hours on school days, more than 18 hours during school weeks and after 9:00 p.m. during the summer months.
Further information:
www.dol.gov/esa/...=atlanta/2003081
...back to 1 April 2004
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$1.2 million for underpaid workers
The DOL has announced that a Bellevue, Illinois, building technology firm has agreed to pay $1,204,203 in overtime back wages to 52 employees for alleged violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The department's Wage and Hour Division determined that the employer failed to pay overtime to three non-exempt, salaried general engineers, and to non-exempt hourly paid engineering specialists, for hours worked over 40 in a workweek.
Further information:
www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/esa/ESA2004574.htm
...back to 1 April 2004
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Qualified college students with disabilities
The DOL's Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) is making available to government and private sector employers a free database that identifies almost 1,600 qualified college students and recent graduates with disabilities who are seeking summer and permanent job openings.
Further information:
www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/odep/ODEP2004522.htm
...back to 1 April 2004
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UK Jobcentre Plus managers to visit US
The Department of Labor (DOL) is to host 18 Jobcentre and Jobcentre Plus managers and staff from the United Kingdom as part of a staff exchange between the British Department of Work and Pensions and the U.S. Department of Labor.
The visit will include a one-day orientation in Washington, D.C. Participants in the exchange will be provided an overview of the workforce investment system, the President's High Growth Job Training Initiative and other Department of Labor initiatives. The delegation will be divided into smaller three-person groups for visits to local One-Stop Career Centers in New York, Virginia, Florida, Texas, Utah and California.
Later in 2004, a group of U.S. One-Stop Career Center staff members will visit the UK to gain a better understanding of the British Jobcentre Plus system.
Further information:
www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/ETA2004542.htm
...back to 1 April 2004
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Breach of the FLSA rules on tips
Over $100,000 in back wages is to be paid to 117 current and former wait staff and bartenders at a restaurant in Houston. The restaurant had a practice of tip-pooling, or totaling daily sales of tipped employees, and requiring those employees to pay managers three percent of the sales.
Under the provisions of the FLSA, employers may consider tips as part of an employee's wages but must pay at least $2.13 an hour in direct wages. If an employer counts tips toward meeting the minimum wage obligation, employees must generally be allowed to retain their tips.
Further information:
www.dol.gov/esa/media...=dallas/2004420
...back to 25 March 2004
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Breach of Service Contract Act rules
A firm providing meteorological weather observation services in Houston has agreed to pay $27,856 in back wages after a Department of Labor investigation found that nine weather observers had not been properly paid. As well as breaches of the FLSA minimum wage and overtime rules, the firm had failed to provide the health and welfare benefits as required by the Service Contract Act (SCA).
The SCA covers contracts entered into by federal agencies where the principal purpose of the contract is to furnish services in the United States through the use of service employees. The SCA requires that every federal service contract in excess of $2,500 contain a wage determination reflecting wages and fringe benefits prevailing in the locality or contained in the collective bargaining agreement of the predecessor contractor.
Further information:
www.dol.gov/esa/...=dallas/2004442
...back to 25 March 2004
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Breach of overtime payment rules
A construction employer in Elburn, Illinois, has paid $56,000 to 18 current and former employers for overtime that had not been paid at time and a half. An investigation conducted by the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division found that the company had paid workers straight time for all hours worked and falsified payroll records to make it appear as if some overtime hours were paid at time and one-half the employees' regular rate of pay. In addition, they 'banked' some overtime hours and paid them at straight time in later pay periods.
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires that covered employees be paid the federal minimum wage for all hours worked and time and one-half their regular rate of pay for hours worked over 40 per week.
Further information:
www.dol.gov/esa/...=chicago/2004339
...back to 25 March 2004
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More back wages for Long Island workers
The Department of Labor had to return to court to enforce an outstanding judgment against a Long Island employer to pay $236,000 to 66 employees. The payments are to be made in monthly installments over a year.
The original ruling found that the employer had paid less than the minimum wage and failed to pay overtime rates between 1995 and 1997. The company had also employed a 14-year old youth who worked 10-hour days, six days a week, in breach of the FLSA's youth employment provisions.
Under the provisions of the FLSA, youths age 14 and 15 are allowed to work outside school hours in non non-manufacturing, non-mining, non-hazardous jobs as long as they work
- no more than 3 hours on a school day, or 18 hours in a school week,
- no more than 8 hours on a non-school day, or 40 hours in a non-school week, and
- not before 7 a.m. or after 7 p.m., except from June 1 to Labor Day, when the limit is 9 p.m.
Different rules apply in agricultural employment.
Further information:
www.dol.gov/esa/...=newyork/2004313
www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/mwposter.htm
...back to 11 March 2004
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Texas employers pay back wages
Two Texas employers have agreed to pay back minimum wages to their current and former workers following investigations by the Wage and Hour Division of the US Department of Labor.
In one case, nine agricultural workers are sharing $39,000, after it was determined that the farm had failed to pay the federal minimum wage and to maintain accurate time and payroll records. Some of the back wages will be paid to workers who have returned to Mexico. Agricultural employees are exempt from the time and one-half overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
In another case, a restaurant chain has agreed to pay $168,000 in back minimum and overtime wages to 92 workers, including some former workers who have not yet been traced.
Further information:
www.dol.gov/esa/media...=dallas/2004257
www.dol.gov/esa/...=dallas/2004253
...back to 11 March 2004
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Missing wages and overtime pay for clothing workers
The Department of Labor has reported that a California clothing company has paid $104.420 to 186 workers after an investigation revealed that they had missed paydays and were not paid overtime as required by the Fair Labor Standards Act. The firm had failed to pay wages on three occasions and was not paying for hours worked in excess of 40 in each workweek.
Further information:
www.dol.gov/esa/.../2004216
...back to 26 February 2004
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Back wages for construction workers
The Department of Labor has reported that a California construction company has repaid $155,950 in back wages to 19 workers following an investigation into violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The owners used a kickback scheme to avoid paying employees the correct prevailing wage rate. After receiving their paychecks, employees returned a portion of their money to the foreman. This "kicked back" money was used to pay the salaries of other employees not listed on the payroll. In addition, employees signed blank time cards that were later filled out by the foreman or office staff.
Further information:
www.dol.gov/esa/...=sanfrancisco/2004186
...back to 19 February 2004
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Fair Labor Standards
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires employees to be paid the minimum wage of $5.15 per hour for all hours worked and time and one-half their regular rate of pay for hours worked over 40 per week. Employers must also maintain accurate time and payroll records.
- Bisso Marine Co. Inc., an offshore marine construction and salvage company in New Orleans, has paid $176,724 in back overtime wages to 25 current and former divers. The company had failed to pay their divers premium rates for overtime hours because they considered them seamen and, as such, exempt from overtime. In addition, they believed that, since their divers were paid hourly rates higher than other divers in the industry, there was no need to pay premium pay for overtime hours.
- The U.S. Department of Labor has filed suit in the U.S. District Court for Connecticut against The Journal Register Company East, Inc. alleging violations of federal law for failure to pay employees of its newspapers the proper minimum wage and overtime. The investigation had determined that workers employed as news reporters, photographers, and in other positions at The Register Citizen and Foothills Trader newspapers in Torrington, Conn., were being paid at rates less than the federal minimum wage and were not being paid properly for overtime hours worked. The company also violated federal recordkeeping requirements.
This is the second lawsuit brought against the company in Connecticut for similar violations; the first suit was settled in April 2002. The DOL's suit seeks all back wages due the employees of the company for the period July 21, 2001 through the present, plus liquidated damages, various fines and costs. The suit also asks the court to compel the company's future compliance with the FLSA and to find the company in civil contempt for its failure to comply with the 2002 judgment.
Further information:
www.dol.gov/esa/...=dallas/2004187
www.dol.gov/esa/...=boston/2004002
...back to 12 February 2004
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Overtime protection for white-collar workers
The Department of Labor's proposal to update the nation's overtime regulations for white-collar workers has been defended in testimony presented by Secretary Chao in front of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies.
The DOL's proposed regulations would raise the salary threshold, below which workers would automatically qualify for overtime, from $155 to $425 a week, or from $8,060 to $22,100 per year. The impact of this revision will be to increase the wages of 1.3 million lower-income workers and reduce the number of low-wage salaried workers currently being denied overtime pay.
Further information:
www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/opa/OPA2004063.htm
...back to 22 January 2004
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Minimum overtime rates
A national supplier of baseball caps has agreed to pay $124,509 to 596 workers in back wages. The Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division found that piecework employees were not properly compensated for daily preparation activities and that the employer had failed to round time cards accurately. The employees should have received overtime wages.
The Fair Labor Standards Act requires that covered employees be paid the minimum wage of $5.15 per hour, time and one-half their regular rate of pay for hours worked over 40 per week, and that accurate records be maintained of employees' wages, hours and other conditions of employment.
Further information:
www.dol.gov/esa/...=boston/2003320
...back to 18 December 2003
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Youth employment laws
A Knoxville, Iowa, restaurant has been fined $17,070 in civil money penalties by the Department of Labor for alleged violations of the youth employment provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The investigation disclosed that 13 minors were found working in violation of hours and time standards or doing prohibited hazardous work.
Federal regulations specify which occupations are prohibited for young workers under 18 because of hazards inherent in the work. Under federal law, 14-and 15-year-olds may work outside school hours, but no later than 7:00 p.m. during the school week. Also, they may not work more than three hours on school days or 18 hours in school weeks. The only exception is from June 1 until Labor Day when a youth can work until 9:00 p.m.
Further information:
www.dol.gov/esa/...=kansascity/2003859
...back to 11 December 2003
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$4.7 million to be paid in back wages
The DOL has announced that it has reached an agreement with T-Mobile USA, Inc. to pay 20,546 workers $4,779,985 in back wages as a result of alleged violations of the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
An investigation by the department's Wage and Hour Division at three of the firm's call centers found that customer care representatives were not recording preparatory activities performed prior to the start of their shift and thus were not paid. Such preparatory activities are work time that must be compensated. After the company was made aware of the violations, it worked cooperatively with the department to compute the back wages at all of its call centers for the three-year period from December 16, 2000 to October 4, 2003 and to come into compliance.
The FLSA requires employers to pay for all hours of work and to pay overtime at a rate of one and one-half times the employees' regular rate of pay for hours worked after 40 in a workweek. The law also requires employers to maintain payroll records.
Further information:
www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/esa/ESA2003796.htm
www.dol.gov/esa/whd
...back to 27 November 2003
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DOL protecting workers
The Department of Labor has published its annual enforcement statistics,
stating that American workers are safer and are receiving more back wages,
including overtime pay, than in the past.
Some of the highlights from the statistics are:
- in financial year 2003, 342,358 workers received total back wages of
$212.5 million
- the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced that,
in 2002, the number of workplace fatalities fell by 6.6% and the rate of
fatal injuries in the workplace fell from 4.3 to 4.0 per 100,000 workers,
both of which are the lowest figures ever recorded
- the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) reported that, in
financial year 2003, 4,253 civil cases were closed, producing monetary
results of more than $1.4 billion
Further information:
www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/opa/OPA2003750.htm
...back to 20 November 2003
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For Payroll and Human Resource Professionals
