Wage Theft Prevention Act

February 8, 2012

It’s February, and if you’re in New York, that means you must now be compliant with the new Wage Theft Protection Act.

On April 9, 2011, the New York State Wage Theft Prevention Act went into effect, becoming fully active on February 1, 2012.

The Wage Theft Prevention Act gives greater protection to workers and requires employers to provide notification of pay rates and yearly pay notices.

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Posted by Peggy

Get Your Labor Law Posters Updated for the New Year

January 19, 2012

2012 brings new Labor Law Posters and we’re selling them! Businesses may also need to post the new Federal NLRA notice. Contact us if you would like to order the updated posters.

Many mandatory State changes have occurred for the 2012 year:

  • 2012 Minimum Wage Changes: Arizona, Colorado , Florida, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, and Vermont
  • New Jersey – Updated and added a new Record keeping Requirement Poster
  • Connecticut – is mandating a new Paid Sick Leave Poster available within a week.
  • California – Updated its Notice A, Notice B, and Discrimination Poster
  • Louisiana – Earned Income Tax Credit, but the poster isn’t ready yet.
  • Nevada – Discrimination Notice
  • Oklahoma – Workers’ Compensation

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Posted by Peggy

Timekeeping Records – Department of Labor Laws

August 5, 2011

Every company needs some kind of time tracking system – be it antiquated paper timesheets or sophisticated web-based applications – in order to know how many hours to pay their employees. But timesheet documents have another very important role: they can keep you out of trouble if ever they are subpoenaed.

The Federal Government defines specific record keeping regulations.

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Posted by Peggy

Time On the Clock – Waiting Time, On-Call Time, Travel Time

June 24, 2011

The Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division gets specific about what is and what isn’t considered work time. The hours which employees spend waiting, being on call, and traveling is all compensable time even when it may seem the employee is not actually “working.”

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Posted by Peggy

Congress Proposes New Bill to Combat Payroll Fraud

April 29, 2011
A new bill called the Payroll Fraud Prevention Act (full bill can be viewed here) seeks to more heavily punish employers who misclassify employees as independent contractors. The bill is designed to both educate workers as well as efficiently identify and persecute violating employers.If the bill is passed, the Department of Labor will be responsible for creating an educational website for employees where they can learn about the difference between employees and independent contractors. The website will also contain contact information for persecuting offending businesses. The bill’s sponsors claim that misclassification is a form of payroll fraud and that it is a way for businesses to evade employment taxes.

The bill will expand the Fair Labor Standards Act in the following ways.

  1. Employers will have to keep employee records listing each employee’s employment classification, i.e. employee or independent contractor, and why.
  2. Employers be responsible for educating employees on employee or non-employee status. Employers will direct workers to the Department of Labor (DOL) website to learn about the difference between types of workers and procedures for prosecuting employers who misclassify employees.
  3. Employers could pay penalties of up to $5,000 per misclassified employee and per employee that was not properly informed of his rights.
  4. Employers who misclassify employees can face triple fees for minimum wage violations.

More information:
Behrenlaw.com

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Posted by Peggy

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