Category Archives: Wage & Hour/Employee Classification

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Pay for Travel Time? The Scenic Route to Work Won’t Cost You

Ver la versión en español aquí Employers often wonder when they should be paying hourly employees for their travel time and the answer may not always be straightforward. Broadly speaking, federal wage and hour laws require that employers compensate employees for the hours they spend traveling for work-related activities. But the law makes several distinctions … Continue Reading

Covering Summer Interns Under Your Employee Benefit Plans – You Can’t Just Forget About Them

Ver la versión en español aquí It is prime time of the year for hiring “interns.” They usually are high school, college or even graduate students looking for work experience. Certain interns may be unpaid (the analysis of whether interns must be paid is an important issue but beyond the scope of this blog post). … Continue Reading

Competing for Workers: Pay More? Or Pay More Frequently?

Ver la versión en español aquí Unemployment rates are at historic lows and the economy is booming! That’s good news for business, right? Yes…and no. While low unemployment creates more demand for the goods and services offered by companies, it also means that employers will have to compete for an ever-shrinking pool of workers. This … Continue Reading

Covering Summer Interns Under Your Employee Benefit Plans – You Can’t Just Forget About Them

Ver la versión en español aquí It is prime time of the year for hiring “interns.” They usually are high school, college or even graduate students looking for work experience. Certain interns may be unpaid (the analysis of whether interns must be paid is an important issue but beyond the scope of this blog post). … Continue Reading

New Tip Rules Impact All Employers Who Receive Tips

Ver la versión en español aquí The recent budget bill contains big changes for businesses with tipped employees. The new law provides that an employer (including its managers and supervisors) may not keep any portion of its employees’ tips even if the employer does not take a tip credit, which is a maximum of $3.02 … Continue Reading

The Department of Labor’s Proposed PAID Program: An Invitation to Turn Yourself In or to Turn Yourself Inside Out?

Ver la versión en español aquí Last week, the U.S. Wage and Hour Division (“WHD”) announced that it will soon offer employers the chance to self-report to the WHD and potentially resolve minimum wage and overtime violations. This opportunity will be offered under the new WHD Payroll Audit Independent Determination (“PAID”) program. The employment law … Continue Reading

Baseball’s Winter of Discontent

Ver la versión en español aquí What can we learn from Major League Baseball’s currently unemployed players? Employee satisfaction has become increasingly important as employees expect fulfillment in their careers (both financially and with work-life balance programs and benefits). Whether unionized or not, it is important to analyze a company’s culture and the industry to … Continue Reading

“What Did You Make at Your Last Job?” – Is That Still a Question?

Ver la versión en español aquí Amazon recently made a voluntary decision to ban the use of salary history questions during the employment application process. Why? The idea is that banning questions about salary history aims to close the gender pay gap. According to the Census Bureau, women make 80% of every dollar a man makes. … Continue Reading

Restaurants and Hotels: Are We Reaching a “Tipping” Point on Tips?

Ver la versión en español aquí Florida and federal law allow restaurants and hotels to pay tipped employees minimum wage, less a credit of $3.02 per hour against tips received. Tips can be pooled and then redistributed to those who are in traditionally tipped positions.  However, if an employer wrongly allows non-tipped employees to share … Continue Reading

Florida’s Minimum Wage to Increase to $8.25 per hour –What About the Loonie, Eh?

Ver la versión en español aquí I originally hail from Toronto, Canada.  As an employment attorney now practicing in Florida, I enjoy comparing US employment laws with their Canadian counterparts.  So first, the news from Florida. On January 1, 2018, Florida’s minimum wage will increase from $8.10 per hour to $8.25 per hour. This adjustment … Continue Reading

A Return To The “Old” EEO-1 Form; EEOC Will Not Collect Pay Data in 2018

Ver la versión en español aquí Employers can breathe a sigh of relief: The EEOC’s initiative to collect summary pay and hours worked data in the new EEO-1 form has ended … for now, at least. Just last year, on September 26, 2016, the EEOC announced that the annual EEO-1 reporting process would change for … Continue Reading

Spoiler Alert: Court Plunges Dagger in Heart of Obama-Era Overtime Regs, Setting Stage for Season II Fireworks

Ver la versión en español aquí Wow, this has been one crazy roller coaster ride. Season 1 of this overtime soap opera kicked-off with President Obama directing the Secretary of Labor to “modernize and streamline” the “white collar” FLSA exemptions. In May 2016, the DOL published revised regulations that increased the exempt salary threshold from … Continue Reading

How Does Time Off Due to a Hurricane Affect Your Employees’ Pay?

It’s throwback Thursday … err Tuesday.  As those of us in Florida prepare for the potential landfall of Hurricane Irma this weekend, please check out my colleague Bob Turk’s interview with the Miami Herald about storm preparations for human resource professionals and our post from hurricane season last year on what happens to employees’ pay … Continue Reading

DOL Does a “Do Over” on Overtime Regs and White Collar Exemptions

Ver la versión en español aquí On November 22, 2016, many of you breathed a (big) sigh of relief. Why? Because a Texas federal judge issued a nationwide temporary injunction precluding the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) 2016 overtime regulations from going into effect on December 1, 2016. These regulations would have significantly increased the … Continue Reading

It’s Payday! Are Pay Stubs an Employer’s Friend or Foe?

Ver la versión en español aquí Poll in-house counsel about the things that keep them up at night.  The contents of a wage statement (commonly known as a “pay stub”) would be way down that list.  After all, the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and Florida state law do not require any specific information … Continue Reading

Top Takeaways from Our 27th Annual Labor & Employment Law Seminar

Ver la versión en español aquí Another successful seminar in the books! Thank you to the nearly 400 attendees who came from near and far. We hope you were able to get a “glimpse into the future” of Labor & Employment law. Check out our Facebook album with photos from the event to see if you can spot yourself or your … Continue Reading

Another Attempt to Pass Private Sector Comp-Time Legislation

Ver la versión en español aquí As the fate of the Department of Labor’s revised overtime regulations remains in limbo as a result of a nationwide injunction (currently on appeal) issued in November 2016, Congress now has chimed-in on wage and hour issues potentially impacting non-exempt employees.  This week, the House of Representatives passed The … Continue Reading

New DOL Overtime Regulations on Hold – Now What????

Late yesterday, a Texas federal Judge issued a nationwide temporary injunction halting the Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) new overtime regulations, which were set to significantly increase the minimum salary required for the executive, administrative and professional overtime exemptions (known as the white collar exemptions). This unexpected ruling prevents the DOL from implementing the new regulations, … Continue Reading

Could the Applicant Salary History Question Become History?

Salary history is one of the most commonly asked questions on employment applications. Knowing what a prospective employee currently earns or what they’ve earned in the past can provide you with valuable information to guide your decision as to whom ultimately to hire: It allows you to determine whether the candidate is in the same salary … Continue Reading
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