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Last month’s news that AT&T is facing a $1 billion (with a B!) class-action lawsuit over wage-and-hour mistakes put a jolt into U.S. employers of all sizes. That came on the heels of word that the U.S. Department of Labor dramatically beefed up its enforcement division. If this doesn’t scare you, it should.
A BusinessWeek report says Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) lawsuits have “exploded nationwide,” and that “because wage-and-hour laws have been so widely violated, undetonated land mines remain buried in countless companies.”
Which pay-related mistakes are you making?
- Employees wrongly classified as exempt from overtime?
- Hourly employees paid incorrectly (or not at all) for their travel time?
- Failing to retain payroll records for the right amount of time (3 years, right?)?
- You closed the shop when the blizzard hit – do you have to pay the staff?
- Violating – or being unaware of – the “rounding law”?
All it takes is one employee filing one complaint to get the class-action snowball rolling downhill. Wal-Mart paid $640 million; IBM coughed up $65 million; Siebel forked over $27 million. Amazon is facing a huge lawsuit for allegedly violating the rounding law.
On Jan. 28, we’ll help you identify all of those potentially devastating pay-related mistakes BEFORE they become Exhibit A in court. Best of all, you’ll learn from the man who literally wrote the book on FLSA compliance, The Wage & Hour Answer Book.
In our new webinar, To Pay or Not to Pay, you’ll learn:
- The correct rules on paying workers for time spent in travel, waiting, training, on-call, meal periods, office closings and bad-weather delays.
- Exempt or Nonexempt: How to make an airtight, leally defensible decision to avoid overtime lawsuits. (Plus, you’ll receive our handy “Exempt vs. Nonexempt” checklist—see box at right)
- Which written policies on wage-and-hour matters should be included in your employee handbook and policies.
- Whether having a wage-compliance policy provide a defense to FLSA claims (similar to a Faragher-Ellerth defense for sexual harassment).
- How long you must retain your payroll records.
- The present and future of DOL enforcement and wage-related lawsuits. Plaintiff firm “FLSA mills” across the country are starting to follow the so-called Florida Model, where lawyers have turned wage-and-hour litigation into a cottage industry.
- Plus, you can ask YOUR pay-related questions.
Clearly, 2010 is NOT the year to make wage-and-hour mistakes! U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis has promised to “refocus the agency on its enforcement responsibilities.” The proof: She added 250 new field investigators—a 33% staff increase—to look into noncompliance of wage-and-hour issues. And cash-strapped states are tightening the wage-enforcement screws as a means of revenue creation.
Your executives expect their HR people to know these old (but technical) wage-and-hour rules … and they don’t like surprises. Register now for To Pay or Not To Pay: Solving Your Complex FLSA Issues.
Sincerely,
Pat DiDomenico
Editorial Director, HR Specialist
P.S. FREE Bonus! The first 50 people who sign up for To Pay or Not to Pay will receive Exempt or Nonexempt? How to Make the Call and Avoid Overtime Lawsuits. This self-audit tool helps you confidently make the vitally important exempt-or-nonexempt classification decision. It includes a handy checklist that you can copy and use to make the judgment for each of your employees. It’s a $29.95 value – but we’ll send our first 50 registrants a PDF download at no cost or obligation.
P.P.S. Your satisfaction is unconditionally guaranteed. If To Pay or Not to Pay fails to meet your needs, we will immediately refund 100% of your tuition. Your conference materials and Exempt or Nonexempt? How to Make the Call and Avoid Overtime Lawsuits are yours to keep. No hassles, no questions asked.
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Nonexempt? How to Make the Call and Avoid Overtime Lawsuits. Learn how to avoid becoming the victim of an employee lawsuit and stay under the DOL’s audit radar screen. This self-audit tool helps you confidently make the vitally important exempt-or-nonexempt classification decision. It includes a handy checklist that you can copy and use to make the judgment for each of your employees.
Tony Griffin is a national authority on wage-and-hour law and the author of the popular Wage & Hour Answer Book, second edition. As a Shareholder in the Tampa office of Ogletree Deakins, he’s been conducting internal wage-and-hour audits for employers throughout his 30-year career and never found a single employer that was squeaky clean. Tony has served as Chairman of the Wage/Hour Committee of the Florida Bar and Co-Chair of the Wage/Hour Committee of the Academy of Florida Management Attorneys, and is a sought-after workshop leader at seminars and conferences around the country.