Wage and hour laws are violated more often than any other employment law.

Implementing and managing sound pay practices have challenged employers for years but have become particularly troublesome of late. Often times, the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) frustrates an employer's attempt to design compensation plans in today's labor market. In the age of highly compensated technical positions, flexible work schedules, inside sales departments, and bonus incentives, wage and hour laws have not kept up with the times and the number of FLSA-related lawsuits has exploded.

Under the new regulations, effective on August 23, 2004, the DOL streamlined the duties test and added important salary basis safeguards. In spite of the DOL's intent to clarify the overtime rules, employers continue to struggle in their efforts to properly classify and apply the exemption tests.

Overtime lawsuits are not limited to major corporations and retail chains. A DOL study estimates that almost half of all U.S. companies have exempt vs. nonexempt classification errors. The amount of back wages collected on behalf of employees as a result of a DOL audit increases each year.

FLSA class action lawsuits now outnumber EEO suits!

An MSEC Wage and Hour Audit at your business site by our attorneys will help you untangle these issues and provide strategies for compliance.

An MSEC Audit includes:

• Coverage under the Act and industry-specific exemptions
• Recordkeeping and retention requirements
• Exempt status - review positions for proper classification
• Deductions of pay for salaried exempt employees
• Pay practices for nonexempt employees - on-call pay, travel time overnight, inclusion of bonus payments and shift differentials in overtime calculations, etc.
• Computing overtime pay for inside sales personnel paid on commission
• State wage and hour laws that differ from the federal statute.

To discuss the Wage and Hour Audit process and costs for your organization, contact wagehour@msec.org at 303.223.5318.