Many employers who have been penalized for labor law violations never realized they were noncompliant. But we all know that ignorance is no excuse. Here are common FLSA violations to avoid:
1. Misclassifying Employees
Any employer who fails to follow DOL rules regarding classification is risking significant penalties. Employee classification affects a host of things including benefits eligibility, minimum wage regulations, overtime pay eligibility, and workers’ comp eligibility. Business owners who misclassify are at risk of state and federal penalties and should consult the comprehensive DOL classification rules.
2. Docking Pay From An Exempt Employee
An employee who is exempt from the overtime provision has other rights under the FLSA. One of these is being paid for an entire day even when working less. Employers who dock pay when a non-exempt employee leaves during the day are committing a punishable violation. Note that an employer can generally take other disciplinary actions.
3. Miscalculating Overtime Pay
Most employees should be paid time-and-a-half for time worked over 40 hours in a week, but employers continue to violate this law, even though it has been around for decades.
4. Minimum Wage Violations
Two Walt Disney companies were required to pay 3.8 million to staff members for wage hour violations that included allowing hourly rates to fall below minimum wage due to paycheck deductions for uniforms.
5. Off-The-Clock Non-Paid Work
Employers must pay their workers for all work performed. This means they cannot ask workers to perform work off the clock. This was another offense in the Disney case mentioned previously.
At SwipeClock we understand how time-consuming it can be to ensure compliance with FLSA provisions, not to mention other laws that affect the workplace such as ACA and PBJ. Employers are also subject to local and state laws regulating minimum wage, overtime, family leave, predictive scheduling, and extra hours for part-time employees.
Business owners need a powerful, yet easy-to-use Workforce Management system that includes smartly-designed compliance features. Workforce Management Suite has dedicated compliance tools that help you comply with DOL regulations without having to hire more HR staff. Avoid fines, store records for verification, and reduce your risk of a wage dispute.
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