Archive for November 2017

Classifying Employees Incorrectly As Independent Contractors In London, a Federal Court has recently deemed Uber drivers as employees. Uber faces numerous lawsuits across multiple countries and states within the USA, where drivers are fighting for employment status. Already, In California and New York, several individual drivers have been granted employee status. But, Uber is not…

Uber London Ruling Could Impact Independent Classification for Employers A recent ruling in England will impact Uber’s business practices across Europe, but could also have implications for the company if other countries, especially the USA, make similar rulings. Already, in New York and California, Uber has faced legal challenges to its “gig economy” setup of…

Employers Must be Prepared for New Sick Leave Law by January The Washington State Sick Leave laws go into effect in January. Contained within the law is an increase in the state’s minimum wage. The Labor and Industries Department states that 1433 businesses will be affected by the new law. The estimated costs for the…

When voters in Washington State voted into existence a new minimum wage and sick leave law on November 9, 2016, they may not have realized the new law would fail to create a uniform sick leave across the state. Currently, Tacoma, Seattle, SeaTac, and Spokane already have paid sick leave laws in place. Each law…

Austin City Council Passes Initiative for Sick Leave Ordinance At the end of September, the Austin City Council proposed an initiative that would require employers to provide paid sick leave to employees. Over 60% of Austin employees already have paid sick leave, but initiative aims to increase that number to nearly 100%. Currently 38  cities…

New York City’s Earned Sick Time Overview The City of New York has had required mandatory sick leave since 2014 for employees of large employers. In addition, New York State recently passed a state-wide FMLA that pays employees who take family leave.  In 2015, the law was again amended to provide sick leave for all…

New York Earned Sick Time Act has costly penalties New York City’s Sick Leave Act was adopted into law in 2013 along with Jersey City, NJ. and Portland, OR. It was revised again in 2014 and in the following 18 months after the grace period ended, over 200 businesses were fined and required to pay…

Calculating Overtime with Commissions is a Vital Step in Compliance This fourth and final article on FLSA Violations: Regular Rate of Pay, covers various ways to apply a bonus when the time frame for the bonus exceeds a week. According to the Department of Labor, overtime must be paid out as it is worked and…

Employers Must Accurately Calculate Regular Rate of Pay that Includes Bonus & Commissions One of the most commonly violated portion the Fair Labor Standards Act pertains to overtime pay and calculating the employee’s “regular rate of pay.” Overtime should be paid at time-and-a-half (1 ½ times) the employee’s regular rate of pay, which cannot be…

Overtime is Often Incorrectly Paid When Employees Receive Tips or Commission One of the most common Fair Labor Standards Act Violations that costs employers millions in fines and penalties is incorrectly calculating Regular Rate of Pay. Two employee groups that receive a majority of their income from income that is not a straight hourly wage…