Category Archives: Department of Labor

How To Know When On-Call Employees Should Be Paid

. Department of Labor, Human Resources . , , ,

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On-call employees are a big benefit to many companies. They help ensure that the business is covered while keeping costs down. On-call employees generally cost little to nothing. But how much exactly should they be paid? The answer is, it depends.

While the employee is on call and not working is he able to use his time as he sees fit? If not then the on-call time should be compensable. If the answer is yes, if employees are generally free to come and go on their on-call time, then they are not considered to be on duty and only need to be paid for the time actually spent working. You can be pretty sure that your on-call employee should be paid if they:

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Paying Employees After Natural Disasters

. Accruals and Time Off, Department of Labor, Human Resources . , , ,

Hurricane Sandy displaced up to 40,000 people from their homes and affected great numbers of small business owners and their employees as well. The damage will, unfortunately, run many businesses out but most will simply miss a few days or weeks of regular business due to power outages and cleanup.

So what about compensation during this time? Do employees still get paid while they wait for the business to open up? And what about employees who were themselves affected by the storm and require time off to care for their own injuries or homes?

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Ruby Tuesday Pays Big for Meal Break Violations

. Department of Labor, Labor Law Posters, Time Tracking News . , ,

It’s always sad to see companies guilty of labor law violations, for one because workers rights are so important and two because the violations can be easily avoided.

Ruby Tuesday Investigation

The Attorney General’s Fair Labor Division launched an investigation of Ruby Tuesday’s labor law practices. Ruby Tuesday was found out of compliance with both the length of shifts of school aged teenagers as well as meal breaks for employees working more than 6 hours.

Ruby Tuesday was found guilty of these violations and will have to pay a $33,000 penalty for meal break law violations, plus an additional $125,000 for the child labor violations.
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How to Manage a Telecommuting Workforce

. Department of Labor, Managing Employees, Telecommuting . , , ,

This week is National Telework Week and employees all over the country are pledging to park their cars and work from home. The country is expected to save over 5 million pounds of pollutants during this single week!

Timesheets.com wants to encourage even more businesses to participate by helping businesses plan their management strategies.

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Wage Theft Prevention Act

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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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Get Your Labor Law Posters Updated for the New Year

. Department of Labor, Labor Law Posters . , ,

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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Timekeeping Records – Department of Labor Laws

. Accounting and Payroll, Department of Labor . , , ,

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

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on call, waiting

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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