Wage And Hour Compliance Defense
With the U.S. Department of Labor estimating that nearly 80% of all businesses in the country are in some way non-compliant with applicable hour and wage laws, it is no surprise that wage and hour lawsuits are one of the fastest-growing areas of litigation. It is also a very expensive area for employers to fail to be in compliance with the wage and hour laws, especially when it comes to properly compensating employees for things such as overtime.
In order to insure your business against such lawsuits, it is essential that you work with a qualified dispute resolution professional to audit your policies to ensure wage and hour compliance across the full spectrum of your employees.
Steps Toward Wage And Hour Compliance
In order to defend against non-compliance lawsuits, employers should audit their employees for the following data points:
- Proper classification: Ensure that all positions are correctly classified as exempt or nonexempt from overtime and minimum wage standards at the state and federal levels.
- Defining work time requiring compensation versus non-compensable time.
- Reviewing payroll and bookkeeping requirements at the state and federal levels.
- Ensuring that overtime rate calculations are being made correctly.
- Ensuring that all necessary records are being kept for all applicable government agencies.
Do Not Pass The Ball
Many employers make the crucial mistake of assuming the vendor they hire to handle their payroll insures them from wage and hour compliance litigation. This is not necessarily true. While the employer may have the option of litigating against a payroll company to recoup losses from such litigation, they will still have to expend resources and time defending against employee litigation, then turn around and expend more to try and recoup losses, with no guarantee of being able to succeed against the vendor.