"You
can rest assured that there is a new sheriff in town," vowed
our new Labor Secretary, Hilda Solis, to
disgruntled workers at a recent AFL-CIO conference.
She has received some clear marching orders
from the new Obama administration: protect
the American worker from wage theft and poor
enforcement of employment laws.
Solis
is up to the task. Despite a record number of Fair Labor
Standards Act (FLSA) claims over the past few years and
jaw-dropping wage and hour settlements (the average hovering
around $24M), Solis is set to hire 250 new wage and hour field
investigators, and President Obama hopes to increase her 2010
funding by $600M. In short, the powers that be are pushing for
a major overhaul of wage and hour law enforcement.
With
more than 70% of employers estimated to be routinely violating
wage and hour laws, now is the time to focus on compliance. Training
your workforce on basic wage and hour rules is one of the
most effective ways to prevent widespread problems. And wage
and hour training can help to build an affirmative defense to
litigation. Without
a compliance program in place, you’re missing out
on the opportunity to save your organization millions.
As
quoted by the ELT newletter 4/23/2009
