Category
Salaried employees
PTO Can be Docked from Salaried Employees
Paid time off is a fringe benefit and is not considered part of a worker’s salary ruled a federal appeals court on March 15, 2023. In a case brought by employees (nurses, physical therapists and social workers) at Bayada Home Health Care, the judges concluded that the company can take away paid leave when salaried......
“Highly Compensated Employee” Exemption Requires Payment on a Salary Basis
A highly-paid offshore tool pusher worker sued Helix Energy Solutions because he was not paid overtime. He was considered exempt under the “highly compensated employee” exemption (Wage and Hour law) but was paid on a day rate, not a salary. In late February, the Supreme Court decided that the worker must be paid overtime because......
Salary Reduction for an Exempt Employee: What are the rules?
At Consultstu, this is probably the most common question we receive from employers. The federal Department of Labor (and the Fair Labor Standards Act) states that exempt employees must be paid a fixed salary that cannot be reduced based on the quality and quantity of the employee’s work. To qualify for an exemption, employees must......
Salary Reports: How much should employees be making?
December is here and we are approaching the end of 2021. At year end, employees start looking for raises or begin thinking about a new job for next year. With the ongoing pandemic and growing inflation news, employers must do their research to stay competitive. According to the Harvard Business Review, employees between 30 and ...
New Overtime Law Took Effect January 1, 2020
In case you missed it over the holidays, the newest Department of Labor regulation went into effect on January 1, 2020. Why does it matter? If your company pays employees on a salary basis (i.e. employee is exempt from minimum wage and overtime as an executive, administrative, or professional employee) then the minimum salary threshold necess...
New Overtime Rule: Exempt Threshold To Increase from $23,660 to $35,568 January 1, 2020
WHAT HAPPENED? This Tuesday (September 24, 2019), the Department of Labor announced the following changes to the FLSA’s white-collar overtime exemptions, to become effective January 1, 2020: The minimum salary threshold for exempt status will be $684 per week, annualized to $35,568 per year. The highly compensated employee exemption’s total...
Is a Company required to pay employees for weather closings?
Last Saturday and Sunday, Hurricane Irma stormed its way across Florida closing businesses, forcing evacuations and crashing power lines. Almost all businesses were closed Friday through Tuesday, and some even longer if power was lost. What are the rules for paying employees when a company is forced to close due to severe weather? The answer......
Obama Overtime Rule is Invalidated
On August 31, a federal judge hearing the case challenging the validity of the Obama Administration’s controversial new overtime regulation ruled that the key provisions were unlawful. The regulations, developed in 2016, had nearly doubled the salary level required to qualify a worker for an exemption from overtime (the Fair Labor Standards...
Federal judge puts new DOL Salary rules on hold
On November 22, 2016, a federal judge in the Eastern District of Texas granted a motion that temporarily bars the regulations from going into effect nationwide (State of Nevada et al. v. U.S. Department of Labor, Civil Action No. 4:16-cv-00731-ALM). The injunction is expressly nationwide in scope, including and applying to states that did not......
Paying all Workers only fixed salaries leads to $424k back wage settlement
An Orlando based plastic recycling company agreed to pay $424,000 in back wages to almost 200 employees after a Department of Labor investigation alleged violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The investigation revealed that Ravago Americas LLC failed to pay overtime to employees and failed to record and track employee work time. Th...
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