January 19, 2024
Court Doubles Down on Damages Orders $1.6M for FLSA violations
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced the court’s order as a result of two business owners’ “willful” violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), including failure to pay overtime and maintain required payroll records.
But wait! That’s not all. Under the court order, the business must also:
- hire a third party to audit its payroll records;
- include in its employee handbook a notice to employees about the FLSA’s minimum wage and overtime requirements; and
- provide all employees with a copy or written links to 3 DOL Fact Sheets.
Lessons Learned. Consider conducting period payroll audits to ensure you are maintaining all required payroll records and properly paying all employees, exempt and non-exempt. Talk to your company’s legal counsel to determine if you want to conduct that audit under their direction and control to protect the confidentiality of the results. If an error is found, promptly correct it. This employer may have had to pay $800,000 rather than $1.6 million but for the DOL finding they “willfully denied” the employees earned overtime.
Want some more tips? Check out the January 24, 2024, webcast, “Wage & Hour News & Updates Impacting Non-Exempt Employees.”
