Understaffing leads to 77% rise in overtime suits: How to stay safe
September 16, 2009 by Sam NarisiPosted in: In This Week's E-Newsletter, Latest News & Views, Law
Companies are scrambling to get more done with fewer people. They just need to make sure they’re doing it legally.
More companies are being hit with suits over unpaid wages and overtime than ever before. Since 2004, wage-and-hour lawsuits under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) have risen 77%, according to the National Employment Lawyers’ Association.
That same time period has seen an 11% increase in FLSA enforcement actions by the department of Labor. Some of the biggest problem areas being targeted:
- unpaid overtime due to misclassification
- requirements that employees spend their own money for company purposes (for example, buying uniforms or other equipment), and
- supervisors altering time sheets to avoid paying OT.
In the past five years, employers have paid a total of $1.5 billion as a result of wage-and-hour suits. And with many employees working longer hours — and many people needing more money to make ends meet — FLSA compliance is more important than ever.
Tags: Department of Labor, FLSA, lawsuits, overtime
September 18th, 2009 at 9:17 am
Recently, in an effort to get things done, some of our hourly employees have been working more than 40 hours a week and not logging it on their timesheets. More than one of them told me that they were just doing what needed to be done to get things accomplished. I stressed to them the importance of 1) accurately logging their time, 2) getting pre-approval (as required by policy) for overtime, and 3) if they do not get pre-approval, they do NOT work the OT. However, I know they’ve continued to work more than 40 hours in a week, and are just trying to be “sneakier” about it so that I don’t call them out on it. I appreciate their dedication, however I know that they are putting the company at risk with their practice. Any suggestions on how to handle this situation? What kind of legal issues are we facing if one of these “time-sheet shavers” terminates and comes back and claims they worked all these hours unpaid? How do we protect the company?
September 18th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
Simple…It’s a policy violation…. you discipline them. Also hold the supervisors/managers accountable to keep track of when their ee’s are working.
September 18th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
I have the same problem as “Question” and have stressed the same 3 items to employees. I will be interested in other responses to this.
September 18th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
Did you verbalize your points or put them in the form of a memo? Remember, document, document, document. If what they are doing is something that needs to done, how about setting up an evening or a few hours on a Saturday? We have the same issue here and it concerns me also.
September 19th, 2009 at 11:44 am
All overtime worked must be paid, whether aprroved or not. You may discipline those who continue to violate your policy/practice of not having OT approved in advance.
September 21st, 2009 at 12:53 pm
Since they have already been verbally warned and there has been no positive change, I would suggest giving them a written warning, noting that while their desire to put in the extra effort is appreciated, it’s illegal for them to work off the clock and puts the company at significant financial and legal risk. In addition, it’s a poor example to other employees, especially if they ever expect to become part of management. At this stage, I would also coach them on various process improvement techniques aimed at reducing waste in whatever business/production processes they are involved in so they have the best chance of getting their work done within their normal 40 hours. At the next violation, I would give them 3 days off without pay and warn them that further violations could (or would) result in termination. If it happens a third time, it’s time to let them go for blatant insubordination.
I realize that sounds really hard-nosed, but well-meaning people that continuously violate company policy and the law demonstrate they are not true team players, and if you let their behavior continue unchecked you, as a manager, indicate to everyone around that violating company rules and the law is okay. I appreciate an employee who is willing to go the extra mile for the company, but when they demonstrate that they have no intention of coming into line with your instructions, company policy, and the law, it’s time to let them go.
September 22nd, 2009 at 6:02 am
[...] Understaffing leads to 77% rise in overtime suits: How to stay safeCompanies stop hiring smokers: Is that legal?State gives workers 4-day weekCourt: Employer owes fired worker for unused vacation [...]