Regardless of who you supported in the recent Presidential election, one thing both candidates agreed on was that the Fair Labor Standards Act, or FLSA, is not going away. The FLSA is a Depression-era law that has seen relatively little change in nearly 90 years. It created a federal minimum wage and required that most employees be paid overtime of 1.5 times their regular hourly rate when an employee works more than 40 hours in a workweek. So why, after so many years, do employers regularly trip up on this law, sometimes costing them in the hundreds of thousands of dollars?

Common FLSA Misconceptions

Continue Reading When do employers need to pay overtime?

On March 24, 2020, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued the first guidance related to the new Families First Coronavirus Response Act. It answered a few questions of general interest, but a lot of questions that relate to small businesses (by that, I’m talking about businesses with under 50 employees) are still up in the air. The DOL further indicated that we should not hold our breath for any regulations before the enactment date. Instead, regulations are promised sometime in April.

New effective date

The biggest surprise was the DOL announcing that the law is now going to become effective on April 1 rather than April 2. Taking advantage of some flexible language in the Act, the DOL obviously decided that it made the most sense to make a pay-related law effective on the first day of most employers’ pay periods, rather than on the second day, which was likely to create payroll nightmares. So, April 1 it is.

Benefits are not retroactive

Continue Reading DOL’s Initial Families First Guidance Throws Some Curveballs; Effective Date Now April 1

Henderson Franklin’s Employment Law and Workers’ Compensation teams invite business owners, HR professionals, in-house counsel and those wanting to stay up-to-date on issues impacting the workplace to attend the 28th Annual HR Law & Solutions Seminar on Thursday, March 26, 2020, at the Marriott Sanibel Harbour Resort & Spa in Fort Myers, Florida. For more details, please click here to view or download the seminar brochure.

The day will kick-off with registration and a continental breakfast at 7:15 a.m. sponsored by Sanibel Captiva Community Bank. After the morning session, attendees will enjoy a plated lunch, sponsored by BKS-Partners, and conclude around 3:00 pm after an incredible inspiring session delivered by former US Black Hawk Helicopter Pilot, Elizabeth McCormick, sponsored by Contemporary Business Resources. Topics and speakers include:

A Day in the Life: Practical Tips for Today’s Employers

Continue Reading Registration for Henderson Franklin’s 28th Annual HR Law & Solutions Seminar is Open

Today’s guest post comes from Jeff Wilcox, an associate at the Hill Ward Henderson firm in Tampa. He will be presenting at the Florida Law Alliance Fall Employment Law Conference taking place on Friday, November 10, 2017 (see below for more details):

Are you making deductions from your exempt employees’ pay? If so, you may lose the right to classify the employee as exempt and, as a result, may end up owing the employee overtime pay for all overtime hours worked over the last two, or possibly three, years.

As a general rule, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) does not permit deductions from an exempt employee’s salary, because the salary cannot be dependent on the number of days or hours he or she works, or even the employee’s quantity or quality of work. There are, however, limited exceptions where deductions can be made. For example, if the employee is absent from work for one or more full days for personal reasons, a deduction is permissible. Moreover, if the employee is absent from work for one or more full days for sickness or disability, and the deduction is made in accordance with a bona fide “sick leave” plan, policy, or practice, a deduction is again permissible. Other limited exceptions exist, and it is important for employers not to deduct from an exempt employee’s salary unless one of the exceptions applies.

Join us in Fort Lauderdale in November

Continue Reading Deductions From Employees’ Salaries May Lead to Liability

If you are like me, you have been focused on all things weather-related the last day or two. In Southwest Florida, we are firmly stuck in the “cone of uncertainty” in the path of Hurricane Irma, a storm the weather-folks keep calling “potentially catastrophic.”  There were even rumors of a Jim Cantore sighting in Fort Myers yesterday…and anyone who has lived in Florida for a hurricane season or two knows what that means!

We know many of you are working on storm preparations, which, with a storm of this magnitude, naturally means you are faced with potential workplace closures. If the number of questions we received yesterday is any indication, there is a lot of uncertainty about when and how to pay employees if your business closes before and/or after the storm.

Impact of Workplace Closure on Payroll

Continue Reading Cone of Uncertainty: Wage/Hour Concerns in the Path of Hurricane Irma

We can’t tell you how many times we’ve been asked in the last few weeks:  is there any chance the new overtime rule will go away or at least be postponed to sometime after December 1?  Well, apparently the answer is…

YES!  Yes.  Yes.  The answer — much to our surprise — is YES, the

The moment we have all been waiting for (dreading?) has arrived — the Department of Labor issued its “Overtime” Final Rule.  The details are available on the DOL’s website, with the “official” Final Rule to be published in the Federal Regulations tomorrow.

As anyone who follows HR or employment law knows, this Final Rule

radical color copyWe are excited to announce that Suzanne Boy will be presenting at the Florida Law Alliance Employment Law Conference, taking place on Thursday, November 12, 2015 at the law offices of Hill, Ward & Henderson in Tampa, Florida. Henderson Franklin is a member of the Florida Law Alliance, a group of six independent law firms practicing throughout Florida. The firms have combined their knowledge, efforts, and resources to increase efficiency, lower costs, expand the scope and improve the quality of legal services each firm provides to its own clients.

Topics and Speakers

Avoiding and Defending Wage and Hour Class and Collective Actions presented by Attorney Craig Salner from the Clarke Silverglate firm in Miami. Employers know that the only lawsuit you win is the one that never gets filed. In the case of wage and hour litigation, this is particularly true of collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and class actions under State law counterparts. This presentation will focus ways to defend class and collective actions or better yet, avoid them altogether.
Continue Reading LGBT, Social Media and EEOC Charges to be addressed at Fall Employment Law Conference