labor lawAdivision of labor law center

In an effort to reduce costs, many employers are considering furloughs – unpaid leave – for exempt employees. However, furloughs can be a legal minefield, if not handled properly, according to the SHRM, the Society of Human Resource Management.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor regulations issued in 2007, an exempt salaried employee is entitled to his or her full salary in any week in which the employee does any work at all – regardless of the number of hours that the employee works.

Under the federal FairPay regulations , an exempt employee who works for 10 minutes during the week is entitled to the same salary as if he or she worked 100 hours during the week.

Also under the FairPay regulations, if an exempt employee is ready, willing and able to work on a particular day, but no work is available, the employer must pay the worker for that day. For example, if the business in Kentucky is closed by a massive power outage, exempt employees must still be paid for that day. Hourly or non-exempt salaried employees need not be paid, under the FLSA or Fair Labor Standards Act.

This means that an employer cannot furlough an exempt employee (more…)

The U.S. Citizenship and immigration Services or USCIS has given employers  a few more weeks to start using the new I-9 form.

Effective April 3, 2009 every U.S. employer will be required to use a revised version of the employment eligibility verification form – more familiarly known as the I-9 form.

According to an interim rule that was published by the USCIS in December, 2008, employers were required to begin using the form on February 2, 2009. That deadline has now been delayed by 60 days.

According to unnamed sources at the USCIS, the delay will provide adequate time to complete a full review of the new form and the employment verification requirements. A notice of the delay will appear in the Federal Register.

Employers are invited to comment on the new rule for 30 days, until March 4, 2009.

A number of employment law and regulatory deadlines set in the last few months of the Bush Administration have been postponed (more…)

One of the hottest HR topics right now is salary reductions for exempt employees. Many employers are faced with a choice of laying off employees, or using other tactics to reduce payroll.

When employers reduce exempt employees’ salaries, they must take certain precautions to avoid breaking the law.

One option to reduce payroll is to reduce hours for hourly employees. By having every hourly employee work 36 hours per week rather than 40 hours per week, an employer can reduce his or her payroll expenses by 10%. (In many cases, however, the cost of benefits remains constant.)

However, that solution won’t work for salaried exempt employees. Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act Fair Labor Standards Act, or FLSA, employers must pay an exempt employee his or her full weekly wage, regardless of how many or how few hours the employee works per week. If the exempt employee works 60 hours per week, he or she is not entitled to overtime. However, if the exempt employee works 20 or 30 hours per week, he or she must still be paid the full weekly salary.

This raises a question for employers. Is there any legal way to reduce an exempt employee’s salary?  (more…)

Nursing mothers must be given accommodation by their employers in New York under a new law.

The law is the New York Nursing Mothers in the Workplace Act, passed in 2007. New York joins several other states, including Colorado and Illinois, in passing a law protecting breastfeeding mothers who are working. The bill passed the New York general assembly almost unanimously.

Under the new law working mothers who are breastfeeding must be given a  time and place to pump milk. They are entitled to unpaid break time, and a room must be provided. The room should be private and near the work station. The law states that storage areas and bathrooms are not appropriate.

“This law is in place to make sure that nursing mothers have reasonable privacy and are treated in a respectful manner at their place of employment,” said state Labor Commissioner M. Patricia Smith. “I encourage anyone not being afforded these rights to contact the labor department at 1-800-447-3992 to speak to one of our investigators,” she added.

Under the labor law, Smith noted, any nursing mother in New York now has the right to express their breast milk in the workplace.

Women with infants and children make up one of the most significant, fast-growing segments of the workforce nationwide. The New York Department of health has said that continuing breastfeeding after going back to work is a big challenge for new mothers. Some give up nursing after returning because of the lack of privacy to express milk and because of unsupportive work environments as well as work schedules.

The New York law protects mothers during an infant’s first three years. Management may not discriminate against mothers who fall under the protection of the law.

According to the Lawyer’s Alliance for New York, employers would be well advised to include information in employee handbooks about the new rights of breastfeeding mothers.

State Health Commissioner Richard F. Daines, M.D., stressed the health benefits, both to infants and mothers, of breastfeeding, noting that such infants have less risk of contracting asthma, obesity, diabetes and other chronic illnesses. The effects carry throughout one’s lifetime, he said.

Traditional holiday parties can be a major liability risk for any employer, whether they are company-sponsored or impromptu gatherings of employees.

Employers who serve alcohol at company-sponsored events may be liable, if an employee chooses to drive under the influence and causes an accident, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Some companies have been held liable for fatal accidents when the courts ruled that employees attended the parties within the scope of their employment.

When parties are held on work premises, or during work hours, an employee who is injured may be eligible for workers’ compensation. This is true whether the party is officially sanctioned or a spontaneous gathering of coworkers.

In one extreme example, a Chicago-area boutique employee suffered a spinal injury at a holiday party in a local bar. The employee was dancing with her boss’ husband when the inebriated man tried to lift her off the floor and twirl her around. He dropped the employee, who hit her head on the floor. Because the accident occurred at a company-sponsored event, the court ruled that it was “within the scope of employment” and the worker collected a multi-million-dollar workers’ comp settlement.

 According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or NHTSA, each year employers pay (more…)