Posted by marykeating on May 10, 2011 under Federal wage and hour law, Wage and hour issues | 
The Department of Labor offers a free application for the IPhone and IPod Touch to enable employees to track their hours.
Under federal wage law, the employer has the obligation to keep good records about the hours worked by employees. Failure to keep good records is a violation of the law, and is supposed to penalize the employer in the event of a dispute over whether an employee has been paid appropriately. In reality, though, poor or falsified records can favor the employer. Although the employer has the burden of proof to show that an employee is exempt from overtime, or was paid for all hours worked, often the employee has no contrary proof. So if the employer claims that the employee took an hour lunch every day, the employee may have no more than his recollection that about three days a week he got no lunch break.
With the new app, an employee can keep daily records of his or her own. The Department is also making paper work calendars available. Other technological versions are being considered.
Posted by marykeating on May 5, 2011 under Collective rights, Wage and hour issues |
Today a new US Department of Labor regulation goes into effect that dramatically changes the acceptable method of calculating overtime pay. One of the strange quirks of the overtime law permits payment of half-time pay for overtime hours when an employer uses a fluctuating work week method of calculating pay. Under this system, a salaried employee who is not exempt from overtime, and whose number of hours may fluctuate from week to week, may be paid half of the salary rate for the hours over forty. This type of pay system is common with firefighters, for example, whose work weeks are not based on a normal 8 hour work day, five days a week, but rather change from week to week and include long stretches on the job. The Department’s new rule provides that an employer may not use the fluctuating work week method if the employer gives bonuses or premium payment to the workers.
The premium payments often are offered for working unpopular shifts, such as overnight work or on major holidays.
The rule also clarifies certain rules for tipped employees. Many tipped employees, such as wait staff, receive a very low minimum wage with the expectation that the tips will raise the individuals’ pay to at least the federal minimum wage. An employer may pay as little as $2.13 per hour. The regulations make clear that the employer may not use the tip credit unless the employee actually receives the tips used for the tip credit, and the tip credit may not be used where the employer keeps some of the tips.
Posted by marykeating on April 11, 2010 under Maryland wage law, Pending legislation |
The Maryland legislative session is nearly over for the year. One favorable bill clarifies the state’s wage payment and collection act to include overtime. Both houses have passed the bill, and it’s expected to be signed by Governor O’Malley.
The wage law helps employees enforce their rights to payment for their work. When there is no good faith dispute about the worker’s entitlement to the wages, a judge may triple the amount found to be owed, and award the employee reasonable attorney’s fees for taking the case to court. The policy behind the law is clear. When an employer withholds wages (and many such cases come up when the employer refuses to pay the last paycheck, apparently figuring that the employee will go away quietly), the employee should have an effective means of obtaining the compensation. Permitting additional damages and attorney’s fees are good incentives. In addition, the law penalizes the employer for holding back pay for no reason other than wage theft. On the other hand, if there is an actual dispute over the pay owed, or the amount of a commission, the employee cannot obtain the enhanced damages, but still has access to court.
Now the law will specifically include overtime pay as an element of the compensation that the employee may sue for. Not all courts had accepted the idea that compensation of any kind included overtime pay, so employees would sue under the Maryland law for unpaid straight-time wages or bonuses, and under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act for their overtime pay. This made the cases needlessly complicated. This may not change the reality that federal judges seem more likely to apply the correct burden of proof (it’s on the employer to show exemption from overtime), but it is a good clarifying law.
