labor lawAdivision of labor law center

Although Mississippi has no minimum wage, most employees in the state are entitled to $7.25 per hour under federal law. The federal minimum wage was increased on July 24, 2009 from $6.55 per hour to $7.25 per hour.

It is vital for Mississippi employers to update their minimum wage posters immediately.

The FLSA or Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 is the relevant federal minimum wage law and covers employers with annual revenue of at least $500,000, and those companies engaged in interstate commerce. This law also covers individual employees engaged in interstate commerce.

Below are some examples of what constitutes interstate commerce:

• Using the Internet, a website or email
• Accepting out-of-state phone calls
• Accepting out-of-state checks
• Accepting credit card or debit card payments
• Buying from out-of-state vendors
• Receiving goods from out-of-state vendors 

With more Mississippi companies utilizing Internet technology, there are few who don’t engage in interstate commerce, including employers in Mississippi.

Therefore, the majority of the businesses in Mississippi were affected by the July 24, 2009 increase in the federal minimum wage.

In some states, it is possible for an employee to be entitled to both the state minimum wage and the federal minimum wage. The law states that whenever a worker falls into this category, he or she is entitled to whichever minimum wage provides the greater benefit. That does not apply in Mississippi, of course, since there is no Mississippi minimum wage.

The increase in the federal minimum wage on July 24, 2009, was the third (more…)

Effective July 24, 2009 when the federal minimum wage increased from $6.55 per hour to $7.25 per hour, the Virginia minimum wage increased to $7.25 per hour, as well.

Every Virginia employer must update his or her labor law posters to reflect the change.

In the 2007, the Fair Minimum Wage Act enacted a series of increases for the federal minimum wage to be accomplished over a three year period. Each increase would be 70 cents and would occur on July 24. The first increase took place in 2007, the second in 2008, and the third and last increase in 2009.

That last increase went into effect on July 24, 2009 and increased the federal minimum from $6.55 per hour to $7.25 per hour. This increase affected most of the employers in Virginia, including those covered by the state minimum wage.

Many Virginia employers are covered by the federal minimum wage.

The federal minimum wage is governed by the Fair Labor Standards Act of (more…)

Hill Brothers Construction of Oxford, Mississippi recently agreed to pay $225,000 for sexual harassment by men, against men. The EEOC sued the company in an unusual same-sex suit, on behalf of a number of male employees. The company’s formal name is the Hill Brothers Construction Company and Engineering Company, Inc.

The EEOC charged that Hill Brothers discriminated against three male employees by subjecting them to a sexually hostile work environment. After a one-week trial, the jury awarded $75,000 each to Scott Beasley, Joel Graves and Douglas Smith as punitive damages in the case. The case was heard before Judge Michael P. Mills of the U.S. District Court.

Hill Brothers is a full-service construction company that has bid on public and private work. The firm has also submitted bids for civil work as well as defense contracts for the Army Corps of Engineers. They are licenses in Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Tennessee.

The three men worked as truck drivers for Hill Brothers. All were hired between September 1999 and August 2001. The trio complained of sexual harassment from Gregg Witt beginning in 2001. The EEOC charged that the sexual harassment was severe, pervasive and included sexually offensive comments, as well as unwanted and inappropriate touching.

The employees complained, but since both they and the offender were male, the company did nothing.

EEOC Birmingham District Director Delner Franklin-Thomas said, “Employers need to heighten their awareness of discrimination and take the appropriate action to address and correct it. There is simply no excuse for an employer’s failure to remedy pervasive sexual harassment and physical assault of employees who have complained repeatedly to management. We strongly encourage Mississippi employers to take notice that discrimination is a costly practice and early prevention makes a better, more productive workplace.”

“We are pleased with the jury verdict and believe the male victims in this case were vindicated,” said Senior EEOC Trial Attorney Valerie Hicks-Powe, who led the federal agency’s litigation efforts. “Employers must take all complaints of harassment seriously, regardless of the gender of the parties involved.”

This case is not over yet. The EEOC is still requesting that the court consider additional damages and injunctive relief to prevent Hill Brothers from similar actions.

EEOC Birmingham District C. Emanuel Smith noted: “Some employers may view male-on-male harassment as ‘horseplay’ or ‘boys being boys’ but this kind of intentional discrimination can cause needless suffering and permanent scars for employees,” said EEOC Birmingham District Chief Emanuel Smith. He added, “ – not to mention creating liability issues for employers who violate federal law.”

Most of us think of sexual discrimination as actions against women, but this lawsuit shows that in some workplaces, there is sexual harassment of men, by men. And, that number is growing every year.

In 1997, just 11.6% of sexual harassment complaints to the EEOC were from men. In 2006, that number had jumped to 15.4%, a 33% increase.  Overall, the EEOC had 12,025 sexual harassment complaints in 2006. The EEOC recovered $48.8 million in out-of-court settlements in those cases. It is the EEOC’s policy to investigate each complaint thoroughly. If the EEOC finds reasonable cause for the complaint, they will file a suit. The EEOC makes every effort to settle the suit out of court, to save the taxpayers the cost of litigation. Most companies agree to out-of-court settlements, although this one did not.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination in hiring, training, wages, working conditions, discipline, promotion or termination based on race, color, sex, religion or country of national origin. The vase majority of sexual harassment cases that the agency takes on are for harassment against women.

Three employers in Alabama, Mississippi and South Carolina have settled separate lawsuits with the EEOC for an amount totaling $454,000. Under the suits brought by the EEOC, all three companies were accused of racial bias.

In a class action case against Pemco Aeroplex, the Birmingham, Alabama aerospace and defense company, the EEOC alleged that nooses, swastikas and other threatening symbols created a hostile work environment for African American workers. The company provides aircraft maintenance and modification services for government and the military.

The other two cases settled involved Ryan’s Restaurant Group, Inc. and Renal Care Group, Inc.

In the larges of the three settlements, Pemco Aeroplex will pay $390,000 in addition to changing its policies on workplace discrimination. According to the EEOC, the suit was based on 36 separate discrimination charges filed since 1998. After an investigation, the EEOC charged that since 1995 Pemco had engaged in a patter of race discrimination by subjecting them to racial slurs, epithets and racially offensive graffiti. The graffiti included Ku Klux Klan symbols.

In addition to the payment, the settlement requires Pemco to change its policies concerning racial harassment and retaliation. This includes training all employees in preventing racial harassment annually. The company will also institute new complaint procedures, and introduce preventative measures. Pemco will also provide team building and diversity training, and conduct surveys to determine the effectiveness of these measures.

The EEOC’s suit against Pemco was dismissed, but reinstated on appeal. Some Pemco employees had filed a separate suit against Pemco, which was settled in 2002.  Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it is illegal to discriminate against workers based on race, color, religion, sex, or country of origin.

“Despite what some may think, overt racial harassment of African Americans still occurs in workplaces more than 40 years after passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act,” said EEOC Chair Naomi C. Earp. “In addition to the severe types of race discrimination witnessed in these cases, the EEOC also is seeing more subtle forms of bias against people of color – which is why we recently launched the E.RACE Initiative.”

In a second case, Ryan’s Restaurant Group of Jasper, Alabama agreed to pay $41,000 to a former employee who is black. The suit charges that the employer created and condoned a racially hostile work environment at its restaurant. This included a display of hangman’s nooses by the restaurant manager.

When the Ryan’s employee complained about the nooses, he was fired in retaliation. Under Title VII, employers are not allowed to take any retaliatory action against employees who lodge a complaint with the EEOC. This includes changing the employee’s working conditions or pay, disciplining them or firing them.

Ryan’s Restaurant Group has its headquarters in Greer, South Carolina. The company operates more than 340 Ryan’s and Fire Mountain restaurants in 23 states in the South and Midwest. The company employs over 23,000 people and serves 110 million customers each year. As part of this settlement, Ryan’s will institute anti-discrimination training.

The third suit settled was with Renal Care Group, Inc. of Jackson, Mississippi. The EEOC alleges that Renal Care discriminated against an African American manager and fired her when she complained about the discrimination. Under the settlement, the company will pay the employee $21,000.

“Each of these lawsuits addressed the mistreatment of blacks in the workplace based solely on their race,” said EEOC Attorney C. Emanuel Smith, of the Birmingham office. “The Commission will continue to identify issues, criteria and barriers that contribute to race and color discrimination.”

All of the companies in this article deny any wrongdoing.

The U.S. Department of Labor recently presented awards to outstanding worker training programs throughout the country in five key areas.  These categories include:

• Helping young people who are out of school
• Collaborating with industry to create a workforce investment program
• Leveraging partnerships between employers, educators and economic development agencies
• Creating a highly-trained 21^st century workforce
• Training workers with special needs

This year’s big winners include groups from Connecticut, Kentucky, Michigan, Virginia and Wisconsin. Runners-up for the awards include agencies and companies from Michigan, Texas, Mississippi, Missouri, Oregon, Washington, New York, Louisiana and Minnesota.

The Recognition of Excellence awards go to the top talent development programs nationwide. This week, Assistant Secretary of Labor Emily Stover DeRocco presented the awards during the Workforce Innovations Conference. Stover DeRocco heads the department’s division of Employment and Training. This is the fourth consecutive year the awards have been used to recognize outstanding training programs in state and local government, private business, education and economic development programs. Each award represents a collaboration between two or more of those key players.

“Our honorees have shown that they are innovative leaders in providing workers with the opportunities and tools to help them compete in today’s global economy,” said DeRocco. “Their outstanding work serves as a model for others to learn from and apply to their own regional economic and talent development strategies.”

The first category is “Educating America’s 21st Century Workforce”, recognizing the top program for providing innovative and effective strategies to prepare workers for jobs requiring better skills. The winner is the Alpena Community College of Alpena, Michigan. Honorable Mentions in this category include the Junior College District of Kansas City, Missouri and the Oregon Manufacturing Extension Partnership of Beaverton, Oregon.

The award for “Building an Industry/Business-Driven Workforce Investment System” goes to the program that best responds to an industry need while preparing workers for continued job growth.  This award goes to Capital Workforce Partners, of Hartford Connecticut. Honorable mentions in this category include the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth’s Bureau of Workforce Programs statewide. An Honorable Mention also went to the Gulf Coast Workforce Board: the WorkSource in the Gulf Coast Region of Texas.

The third category recognizes the value of collaborations between employers, educators and economic development leaders. The e3 Partnership award goes to Eastern Kentucky C.E. P. Inc. of Hazard, Kentucky. The runner up in this category is the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College in Gulfport, Mississippi.

The fourth category is “Recognizing the Demographics of the Workforce”. This award highlights agencies or organizations that target workers with special needs. Winners in this category provide services to workers with limited English skills, to migrant farm workers, and those who are homeless as well as others. The top award in this category goes to Experience Works, Inc. of Arlington Virginia. Honorable mentions go to the Shoreline Community College in Shoreline Washington and the Center for Employment Opportunities in New York, N.Y. 

The final category is “Serving Out-of-School Youth”. Winners in this category demonstrate innovative techniques in collaborating with educators, businesses, industry and other essential partners to train, educate and hire young people who are out of school. The award goes to Workforce Connections, Inc. of La Crosse, Wisconsin. Other notable programs in this category include the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development in St. Paul, Minnesota, and the River Paris WIA Program in Convent, Louisiana.

All of the awards were presented at a gala ceremony during the Workforce Innovations Conference, an annual event that provides an opportunity for networking on workforce issues between stakeholders in the public and private sectors.