Department Of Labor
Hires 250 To Investigate
Wage And Hour Violations!
The
U.S. Department of Labor just announced it’s hiring
250 investigators to look into wage-and-hour violations. Why now?
And what are they looking for?
First,
the answer to the “why now?” question:
It
starts with a recent report titled “Broken Laws, Unprotected
Workers: Violations of Employment and Labor Laws in America’s
Cities.”
The report was based on face-to-face interviews with about 4,000
workers in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. It was published
by the Center for Urban Economic Development at the University
of Illinois at Chicago, the National Employment Law Project and
the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment.
A
sample of the study’s findings:
- 76%
who had worked overtime the previous week claimed they were
not paid time-and-a-half for it.
- · 26%
said they were being paid less than the minimum wage.
- · 75%
of those interviewed earned less than $10 an hour.
- · 69%
of workers who were entitled to a meal break said they received
no break at all, had their break shortened, were interrupted
by their employer or worked during the break.
- · 20% said they had made a complaint to their employer or
attempted to form a union in the last year; of
those, 43% said they’d experienced some form of retaliation — such
as getting fired
or being threatened with a pay cut.
So the violations that jumped out at DOL involve OT pay, minimum-wage
violations, denied breaks mandated by law and illegal retaliation.
Taken from an article by HR Morning September 18, 2009 by Sam
Giulianp
This
means YOUR company must have updated, compliant job descriptions
for each and every position in your company, as this will be
the first items to be assessed. Adjustments to positions may
be necessary to conform with the Department of Labor’s
strict requirements for meeting
exempt status.
Contact
Fern Powers for an assessment of your job descriptions or to
write your compliant job descriptions today! 215-563-5520
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