It’s a rare day with the U.S. Department of Labor is assessed attorney’s fees against it for bringing a suit against an employer in bad faith. However, in Gate Guard v. Secretary of Labor, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered that a trial court award attorney’s fees to a Texas employer in a
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Wage and Hour Rules for Unpaid Internships
By Russell Cawyer on
Posted in Human Resources, Wage & Hour
Schools are out for the summer and many college and graduate students are looking for experience in what they hope will be their chosen careers. Employer’s looking to provide that experience through the use of unpaid internships must understand the rules that qualify an internship for "unpaid" status or unwittingly create potential wage and hour…
DOL Publishes Smart Phone Time Keeping App
By Russell Cawyer on
Posted in Human Resources, Wage & Hour
Today the U.S. Department of Labor announced publication of a time keeping App for smart phones –the DOL -Timesheet. Employees can download the free App through iTunes and can be used with the iPad, iPhone and iTouch. The App is an electronic timesheet that allows employees to record their hours worked and calculate the amount of…
DOL Issues Administrator’s Interpretation on Definition of “Clothes” and Whether Changing Clothes is a Principal Activity
By Russell Cawyer on
Posted in Wage & Hour
The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division issued its second Administrator’s Interpretation. The Administrator Interpretations are issued by the Division in areas where it believes it is useful to clarify the law as it relates to an entire industry, a category of employees, or to all employees.
Administrator’s Interpretation No. 2010-2 discusses the Fair Labor Standards Act’s…
U.S. Department of Labor Issues Revised Child Labor Regulations
By Russell Cawyer on
Posted in Child Labor, Wage & Hour
The U.S. Department of Labor has issued revised regulations dealing with child labor in non-agricultural employment. The new regulations take effect on July 19, 2010. The new regulations specify the kinds of employment that minors may perform and the hours in which they can perform the work. Any Texas employer employing individuals age 18 or younger should closely review these…
Companies Using Independent Contractors Beware: State and Federal Taxing Authorities Becoming More Aggressive in Challenging Those Classifications
By Russell Cawyer on
Posted in Human Resources, Wage & Hour
Companies using independent contractors to perform work normally performed by employees beware; state and federal governmental taxing authorities are challenging those classifications in an effort to increase tax revenue on wages that are not properly reported. According to a recent article by the Associated Press, "the Internal Revenue Service and 37 states are cracking down on…
U.S. Department of Labor Guidance on Furloughs
By Russell Cawyer on
Posted in Furloughs, Wage & Hour
The U.S. Department of Labor recently issued guidance via answers to some Frequently Asked Questions regarding work furloughs. The FAQs can be found here. I’ve previously written on employer use of furloughs. You can read that post here.
Richard Tuschman at the Florida Employment and Immigration Law Blog also has a good post on furloughs that explains some of…
DOL Announces Intent to Hire 250 Additional Wage & Hour Investigators
By Russell Cawyer on
Posted in Wage & Hour
Following a GAO report that concluded that the Department of Labor inadequately investigated complaints from low-wage and minimum wage workers who claimed that their employers failed to pay the federal minimum wage, required overtime, and failed to pay employees their last paycheck the DOL has reacted.
This week, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis announced that the…