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United States Department of Labor
and the Fair Labor Standards Act
Each week I receive a newsletter from the U.S. Department of
Labor (DOL) detailing new and ongoing initiatives, how the economy
is doing and a listing of recent actions. I found this particular
newsletter very interesting because it listed six (6) companies
who had recently been fined for violations of the Fair Labor
Standards Act (FLSA).
- A Silicon Valley data collection services company will pay
$910,878 in back wages and damages to 34 workers.
- A Kentucky tobacco farmer was found guilty of wage payment
and visa program violations.
- A Tennessee tire manufacturer paid $659,266 to 136 workers
to resolve overtime and record keeping violations.
- A Virginia based IT contractor paid $312,334 to 45 workers
for overtime and record keeping violations.
- A restaurant chain in San Francisco will pay $224,465 in
back wages to 25 employees for overtime and record keeping
violations.
- An Oregon construction contractor will pay $98,461 to 51
employees for overtime and record keeping violations.
For fiscal year 2018, the DOL recovered from employers a record
$304 million due to wages owed and record keeping violations.
In the last 5 years, the DOL has recovered more than $1.3 billion
from employers due to overtime, back wage and record keeping
violations.
- The most common violations include:
- Unpaid or incorrect overtime pay
- Unpaid “off the clock” work
- Minimum wage violations
- Illegal paycheck deductions
- Incorrect determination of exempt
status
- Wrongful classification as an Independent Contractor
- Insufficient
record keeping
So, what records are actually required? Under the FLSA, employers
must maintain the following basic payroll records for all employees.
- Employee’s full name and social security number
- Address,
including zip code
- Birth date, if younger than 19
- Sex and occupation
- Time and day of week when employee’s
workweek begins
- Hours worked each day
- Total hours worked each week
- Basis on which employee’s
wages are paid
- Regular hourly pay rate
- Total daily or weekly straight time earnings
- Total overtime earnings
for each week
- All additions to or deductions from each employee’s
weekly wages
- Total wages paid each pay period
- Date of payment and the pay
period covered by that payment
Don’t become a DOL statistic.
A company’s best defense against
the potential expense and aggravation related to federal or state
law violations is to proactively review and revise as needed
all Human Resources policies, handbooks, hiring procedures, compensation,
benefits, training programs, communications tools and other functions.
The professionals of PHHR are ready to assist your organization
with this type of training as well as to maintain compliance
with the latest state and federal mandates.
Newsletter Archive
Paul Hilton Human Resources Consulting works with our clients to insure that all required documentation is correct and sufficient to successfully defend against a claim to any unemployment compensation commission. |
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issues, please Contact Us. |
Our newsletter is updated regularly, providing
information of interest
to many of our readers. We invite you to check back frequently.
Paul Hilton is a certified Human Resources Consultant, located in
Columbia, SC.
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