Dear Colleague:

You can’t afford to gamble with FLSA compliance.

The stakes are too high, from time wasted dealing with audits by regulators, to time spent by attorneys you must hire to defend lawsuits brought by employees.

That attorney time racks up fast at hundreds of dollars an hour. Then add the threat of whopping fines and judgments against you, and you’re looking at thousands of dollars … tens of thousands … even more.

It’s so much easier – and smarter – to get the Complete FLSA Compliance Toolkit and put it to work protecting your business. With a wealth of resources on a powerful CD, plus a printed guide for your convenience, the toolkit is a reference you’ll consult again and again to help resolve tricky issues about wage-and-hour laws.

If you’ve struggled to understand the Fair Labor Standards Act, you’re not alone. Sometimes it seems as if FLSA rules were designed to be confusing. Otherwise, why would it be so hard to determine:

• Who gets overtime – and who doesn’t. For example, do you have to pay overtime even if an employee isn’t recording his or her hours correctly? Even if the overtime wasn’t authorized?

• Who is a contractor – and who isn’t. How exactly do you determine if workers are employees? (Hint: Giving someone a 1099 does not magically turn him or her into a contractor.)

• Who is still “at work” even when traveling – or merely on call. How about employees who are on break but covering the phones? Or those who didn’t come to work at all because your office was closed due to weather – do they get paid anyway?

Questions like these are a two-edged sword. You don’t want to pay more than you have to, but you don’t want to get into legal trouble, either. That’s why knowing the right answers is so important.

There’s nothing fair about the Fair Labor Standards Act. The burden is on you to understand its complexities and comply with them. That’s why the Complete FLSA Compliance Toolkit gives you everything you need.

Here at Business Management Daily, we don’t use the word “complete” lightly. Our customers expect us to walk our talk, and we’ve made sure this toolkit is truly comprehensive. You’ll find:

• FLSA Compliance Guide: A Practical Reference Tool on Wage-and-Hour Law. In fact, the toolkit gives you the guide two ways: as a PDF on the CD, so you can access the information anywhere you take your laptop, and a handy printed version to keep in your office for quick reference.

• FAQs on the FLSA. We asked our editors to analyze the questions they get most often. Result: more than 75 answers to the most common questions, from “How does FLSA define enterprise?” to “When can exempts’ pay be docked without jeopardizing their exempt status?” to “Does paid travel time have to be considered when calculating overtime?”

• Self-Audit Checklists. These help ensure you properly classify employees as exempt or non-exempt. Also: how to keep unpaid interns from turning into employees … determining employees’ working hours … when you can legitimately make pay deductions … a dozen checklists in all.

• Department of Labor FairPay Fact Sheets. For further illumination, we give you links to 17 of the DOL’s own publications focusing on executives, admins, professionals, employees in computer-related occupations, outside salespeople, highly compensated workers, blue-collar workers, first responders, veterans, insurance claims adjusters, financial services employees, nurses, technologists and technicians, construction workers and journalists.

• Links to Key FLSA Regulations. You can read the actual laws on overtime exemptions, overtime compensation and hours worked. Ideal for anyone who needs to dig deeper.

The most powerful tool in the kit is the FLSA Compliance Guide. You’ll consult it again and again – the PDF or printed copy – for definitive information on any wage-and-hour topic.

The Department of Labor has a building full of bureaucrats to write and enforce FLSA regulations. But you’ll have the FSLA Compliance Guide (plus all the other resources in the complete toolkit) to help you level the playing field.

You’ll find guidance on dozens of topics, with simple language and examples to enhance your understanding. Glance through the Table of Contents and you’ll see we’ve covered everything:

Executive Summary FLSA: Who Must Comply? Hourly Pay Overtime: Beyond 40 Hours Who's Exempt FLSA: Finally Growing Up Murky Waters Beware State Laws Double-Check Your Compliance Calculating Wages and Hours Defining “Hours of Work” Meals and Breaks Janitors and “Hot Goods” Meetings and Training Travel Time Sleeping Time Other Work-Related Activities The Minimum Wage States, Cities With Higher Minimum Wage Payroll Deductions Child Labor Law Holiday Party Jury Duty Let it Snow... Recordkeeping Overtime Rules and Exemptions Calculating Overtime Stock Options Excluded Working at Home Salaried, Nonexempt Employees Don't Invite an Audit The Comp Time Issue

Who’s Exempt Under Revised Rules Salary Basis Nonexempt: Blue-Collar Workers, First Responders Duties Tests “Highly Compensated Worker” Exemption “Fee Basis” Audit: Test Your Compliance Frequently Asked Questions Wage-Hour Regulations Clocking In Docking Vacation for Illness Amending Time Sheets Sending Them Home Without Pay Piecework and Working at Home Employees’ Smoking Breaks Changing Employee Status Mandatory Overtime Docking Pay for Jury Duty Fluctuating Workweeks Paying for Extra Hours Inclement Weather Days Job Descriptions and Federal Law Independent Contractors Related Court Rulings Overtime for Exempt Employees Working Through Breaks Duties Test Misclassified Exempt Employees Employees on Call Travel Time vs. Commute Training Programs Not Independent Contractors Exercising Independent Judgment

Order the Complete FLSA Compliance Toolkit with absolutely no risk. It’s the best way to reduce the risk you’re taking right now.

Would you rather continue whatever you’ve been doing – and not doing – with regard to FLSA compliance? It’s understandable. You simply want to get on with your business. All this wage-and-hour stuff is a pain.

But it’s a lot more painful to keep paying your employees more than you have to.

And the pain becomes excruciating when failure to comply leads to an audit, a fine or –the ultimate financial torture – a lawsuit.

You’re even on the hook for your employees’ mistakes. An incorrectly completed timesheet can put you in harm’s way. Unfair but true.

That’s why you must know the FLSA rules and must be in compliance. So make it as easy as possible. Get the Complete FLSA Compliance Toolkit and start reducing your risk now.

Unfortunately, honest intentions are not enough. If you think you’re already doing your best to comply with all those complicated FLSA regulations, and that’s sufficient, I urge you to think again. As it says in the FLSA Compliance Guide included with your toolkit:

“Look at the Labor Department in the same light as the IRS. You can and should take every income tax deduction you’re entitled to, but not a penny more. If you overstep, the IRS will come after you.

“The DOL is no different. Pay workers what they’re entitled to while following the letter of the law. Don’t be tempted to give workers less than they’re legally due. Otherwise you can expect to pay a heavy price.”

Why not pay just a small price instead? Get the toolkit.

Regards,



Phillip A. Ash
Publisher

P.S. When you glanced through the Table of Contents above, did you notice the section on Related Court Rulings? The Fair Labor Standards Act was passed by Congress in 1938, and it’s been evolving (some would say mutating) ever since.

You can’t afford to rely on outdated knowledge of a law that can affect your business so severely. All the more reason to order the toolkit now.