In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt passed the Fair Labor Standards Act (commonly referred to as the “FLSA”). The purpose of the Depression era legislation was to protect the individual employee against abusive employers and to ensure a minimum standard of living to the American worker. FLSA guarantees workers a federal minimum wage and overtime pay for employees who work over 40 hours a week.
Expanding FLSA Over the Years
Over the years, FLSA has been expanded to include other areas of employee protections, such as restrictions on employing children, and employee documentation and recordkeeping. In recent months, the US Department of Labor released an “Administrative Interpretation” (AI) to clarify the definition of “clothes” under the FLSA.
The Definition of “Clothing”
Currently, the FLSA excludes time spent “changing clothes or washing” at the start or end of a workday from compensable time, and the vague exemption has led to many lawsuits and conflicting court decisions on what constitutes ‘clothes.’ The AI provides clarity by stating that the time spent changing into or out of protective gear or equipment required by law, the employer, or the nature of the job, is indeed compensable.
The AI further clarifies that even if ‘changing clothes’ does not fall under a compensable activity or time, it may still trigger the ‘continuous workday rule’ if the subsequent activities after changing clothes would be compensable under FLSA, activities such as walking, waiting, or other travel time. Employers should review their compensation policies or practices to reflect this change to remain compliant with the law.
The guidelines covered by the FLSA can be confusing, and costly, if not adhered to. Speak with a CPEhr HR Consultant for an audit of your FLSA practices.
Source: EPLI Pro News, July 2010
In our previous post, we discussed the importance of maintaining accurate employee files. A myriad of state and federal agencies govern the maintenance of employee files, often with overlapping or contradictory requirements. In this post we will focus on employee benefit and health information.
There are many federal laws and state requirements, ranging from the Fair Labor Standards Act to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, that require employers to retain employee records. In addition to maintaining employment files, accurate documentation will assist in addressing employment claims. In this introductory post, we will touch on some “high level” aspects of employee record keeping and documentation. In subsequent posts we will dig deeper into this important, but complex, topic.
The world-wide mantra of Human Resources is DOCUMENT! While potentially time consuming, you should always remember: if an event is worth remembering, it should be written down. If it is not written down, it will be regarded as a non-event; as if it never happened. You do not want to find yourself in court, avidly stating that you spoke with an employee on numerous occasions, only to find yourself with no evidence to support your claim.
In yesterday’s post, we discussed the challenges employers will be facing as they begin rehiring employees into the workforce. We touched on four areas of which employers should be aware as they begin the hiring process - Job Descriptions, Advertising, Screening and Applications. In today’s post, we will look at another four key elements:
Our last post discussed the concept of “Co-employment” and the role of a 
