3 Ways to Avoid Costly Wage and Hour Problems

Speaker: Michael D.Haberman is a consultant, speaker, writer and teacher. He is co-founder of Omega HR Solutions, Inc.

Overview

The U. S. Department of Labor has a long list of all the things that employers are doing wrong under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Misclassification of employees is one major area that both the USDOL and the IRS are clamping down on. Mistakes in classification can result in major settlements, including back pay, payment of fines, and reclassification. The second area that is being investigated is improper payment of overtime. The USDOL has said that employers are stealing wages from their employees and they intend to correct all those mistakes. Mistakes on payment of overtime can be expensive to correct, because if you have been making that mistake on one employee you have been making for many. Correcting overtime pay means going back two years or more to correct your mistakes. This can be very expensive.

Why Should You Attend

Losing a wage case can be an expensive proposition. In addition to back wages, employers must also pay penalties, interest and the legal fees of the employees if they prove their case. These cases are difficult to defend because quite often employers did not know they were in the wrong, unfortunately, ignorance of the law is no excuse. While settlements may not amount to more than $5000 per employee, class action suits are common and may result in costs of over $200,000 to multi-million dollar settlements, depending on the size of the company.

Areas Covered

This webinar will address the following key topics:

• The most recent changes in Exempt classification under the FLSA
• Who is a nonexempt employee
• How nonexempt employees are paid overtime
• What is the new definition of “regular rate” of pay
• What is an exempt employee
• A brief word about independent contractors
• How to calculate overtime:

1. Time and a half is not so simple
2. Regular rate of pay
3. The effect of bonuses
4. The effect of productivity pay

Who Will Benefit

• Human resources
• Supervisor
• Managers
• Payroll
• Small business owners

This activity has been approved for 1 HR (General) recertification credit hours toward aPHR, PHR, PHRca, SPHR, GPHR, PHRi and SPHRi recertification through HR Certification Institute (HRCI). Please make note of the activity ID number on your recertification application form. For more information about certification or recertification, please visit the HR Certification Institute website at www.hrci.org

This program is valid for 1 PDCs for the SHRM-CP® or SHRM-SCP®