David Letterman is retired, but the end of every year brings a new, or not so new, top 10 list of wage and hour violations. The list is prepared by the NH Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, which dutifully keeps track of the various infractions committed by employers. Large and small employers alike
Wages
Are you ready for these 2016 changes to Massachusetts Wage and Hour Laws?
When the ball drops on New Year’s Eve two important changes to Massachusetts wage and hour law will take place.
The first change is that the Massachusetts minimum wage will increase to $10.00 per hour effective January 1, 2016. For tipped employees, the minimum wage is increasing to $3.35 per hour. (The service rate is…
The Wait is Over: New FLSA Regulations Issued by USDOL
The wait is over; well sort of. In March 2014 President Obama directed the US Department of Labor (“DOL”) to review the so-called “White Collar” exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) to determine whether they were in need of revision having last been updated in 2004. Today the DOL announced a new proposed…
NH DOL’s Top Ten List
Every year the New Hampshire Department of Labor issues a list of the top ten violations found by its inspection division in the previous year. Remarkably, the list does not change much from year to year. The culprits move up and down and switch places, but the same mistakes seem to be made in perpetuity.…
Equal Pay Law Change and New Mandatory Poster in Effect January 1, 2015
As discussed by Nicholas Casolaro in his blog post from August, the NH law which goes into effect January 1st relative to equal pay prevents employers from discriminating between employees on the basis of sex by paying employees of one sex…
Integrity Staffing Solutions v. Busk, et. al: US Supreme Court Reverses Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit: Warehouse Workers’ Time spent in Post-Shift Security Screen Not Compensable
In a unanimous decision, the US Supreme Court once again addressed the issue of whether time the employer requires an employee to do something is compensable under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Integrity Staffing required its warehouse workers whose job it was to retrieve inventory and package it for shipment to undergo an antitheft security screening before leaving the warehouse each day. During the screening, employees removed items such as wallets, keys, and belts and passed through metal detectors. Employees filed suit for unpaid wages arguing that the time spent waiting for and being screened was compensable, in part because they were required by the employer to do so.
Continue Reading Integrity Staffing Solutions v. Busk, et. al: US Supreme Court Reverses Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit: Warehouse Workers’ Time spent in Post-Shift Security Screen Not Compensable
NH JOINS FORCES WITH US DOL TO REDUCE MISCLASSIFICATION OF WORKERS
The NH Department of Labor and the US Department of Labor entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the purpose of preventing misclassification of workers as independent contractors or some other nonemployee status. The MOU calls for the state and federal agencies to share information and to coordinate their efforts of enforcement. It became…
Businesses Take Note — New Hampshire Has New Pay Equity Laws
Governor Maggie Hassan recently signed two bills into law that may have significant impacts on New Hampshire businesses. The first, HB 1188 , which takes effect on January 1, 2015, prohibits employers from discharging, disciplining, or otherwise discriminating against an employee because…
Coach, Inc. Added to List of Companies Sued For Misclassifying Unpaid Interns
Coach, Inc. is the latest company to be sued for alleged misclassification of employees as unpaid interns. I just wrote about the trend in these class action lawsuits for the Union Leader’s Know The Law. These cases are often high profile because they involve a large number of former and current interns seeking monetary…
USDOL To Revisit White Collar Exemptions
Perhaps one of the biggest and most unexpected pieces of news for employers came on March 13, 2014 when President Obama signed a memorandum instructing the USDOL to undertake its first overhaul of the FLSA since 2004. The agency is charged with the responsibility to update the regulations of who qualifies for overtime pay. The…