Jan 20, 2022 | Overtime & Wages
U.S. DOL Files Lawsuit Against San Antonio, Texas Company Seeking $114,000 In Overtime Back Wages, Damages For 79 Security Guards
A U.S. Department of Labor investigation has found that the pay practices of a San Antonio, Texas company that exclusively hires military veterans to work as security guards violated federal law and shortchanged 79 employees of $57,465 in overtime back wages.
On Nov. 19, 2021, the Department of Labor filed a lawsuit in United States District Court for the Western District of Texas against Texas Veteran Security LLC and its owner, Gerard X. Morales, to recover the wages. The lawsuit seeks the back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages totaling $114,930 for the workers, as well as injunctive relief.
Investigators with the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found the employer paid its workers on a bi-weekly basis and failed to compute overtime after 40 hours in a workweek on a consistent basis, resulting in the payment of overtime hours at the straight-time rate in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The employer also violated the FLSA’s recordkeeping provisions.
Texas Veteran Security LLC provides armed and unarmed security guards, as well as private investigative services. The company also employs off-duty Texas peace officers and commissioned security officers.
To view a copy of the complaint filed by the Department of Labor, please click Texas Veteran Security, LLC.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor.
Victims of wage and hour violations are encouraged to contact Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. by completing the form above on the right or via [email protected] for a free, no-obligation evaluation of potential legal claims.
Jan 19, 2022 | Overtime & Wages
Characteristics Of The Warehouse & Wholesale Industries
The warehouse industry includes central warehouses for a business enterprise, public warehouses, and storage establishments.
The wholesale industry is characterized by the sale of goods for resale, rather than sales to the ultimate consumer.
All employees of wholesale or warehouse employers whose gross annual dollar volume of sales made or business done is not less than $500,000 are covered by the FLSA.
Even if a wholesale or warehouse business is not a covered enterprise, most employees will be covered by the FLSA on an individual basis. Individual coverage applies to all employees who are engaged in interstate commerce or the production of goods for commerce. Such employees include persons who receive, ship, transport, or load goods that are moving in commerce or who prepare or transmit documents relating to such shipments. Other individuals, such as guards, janitors and maintenance employees who perform duties which are closely related and directly essential to such interstate activities, are also covered by the FLSA.
FLSA Pay Requirements
The FLSA sets basic minimum wage and overtime pay standards and regulates the employment of minors. Covered, nonexempt employees must be paid the federal minimum wage. Non-exempt employees must also be paid time and one-half their regular rates of pay for all hours worked over 40 per workweek, regardless of whether paid an hourly rate, salary, piece rate, commission or other basis. Each workweek stands alone and there can be no averaging of hours over two or more workweeks.
Youth Minimum Wage: The 1996 Amendments to the FLSA allow employers to pay a youth minimum wage of not less than $4.25 an hour to employees who are under 20 years of age during the first 90 consecutive calendar days after initial employment by their employer. The law contains certain protections for employees that prohibit employers from displacing any employee in order to hire someone at the youth minimum wage.
No one under the age of 16 may work in a warehouse. Warehouse employers may not employ anyone under 16 years of age. Wholesalers may have employees as young as 14 in certain jobs, but only during closely regulated hours and in very limited occupations. Employees under age 18 may not engage in occupations which have been declared hazardous, including operating most power-driven hoisting apparatus such as forklifts.
Federal regulations, 29 CFR Part 516, specify the records which are to be kept on each employee. Most of the required records are of the type generally maintained by employers in ordinary business practices (e.g., employee names, addresses, hours of work, rates of pay, wages, deductions). These must usually be maintained for a 3-year period.
There may be employees within a covered business who are exempt from the minimum wage and/or overtime provisions of the FLSA. Bona fide executive, administrative and outside sales persons are exempt from both minimum wage and overtime provisions, if all the tests of the exemptions are met. Interstate drivers, mechanics, and loaders may be exempt from the FLSA’s overtime provisions.
Some Typical Problems Of The Wholesale & Warehouse Industries
- Employment of underage minors, especially in the operation of fork lifts and paper balers.
- Misapplication of the executive or administrative exemptions to non-exempt individuals, such as clerical workers, working forepersons, dispatchers, and inside salespersons.
- The misconception that salaried employees need not be paid overtime.
- Failure to pay employees for all hours suffered or permitted to work, including, for example, time spent taking inventory, and completing paperwork, beyond the normal schedule.
- Failure to maintain time records on salaried or piece-rate employees.
- Giving compensatory time off in lieu of overtime pay.
- Considering certain employees to be “contract labor” and, thus, not covered by the FLSA’s provisions.
- Deductions made for reasons other than, for example, board and lodging, in overtime work weeks.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor (Fact Sheet #10, Revised July 2008)
Warehouse and Wholesale employees who believe they are victims of wage and hour violations are encouraged to contact Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. by completing the form above on the right or via [email protected] for a free, no-obligation evaluation of potential legal claims.
Jan 19, 2022 | Overtime & Wages
Nurses, The Fair Labor Standards Act & The Learned Professional Exemption
The Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA“) requires that most employees in the United States be paid at least the federal minimum wage for all hours worked and overtime pay at not less than time and one-half the regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek.
Section 13(a)(1) of the FLSA, however, provides an exemption from both minimum wage and overtime pay for employees employed as bona fide executive, administrative, professional and outside sales employees. To qualify for exemption, employees, including nurses, must meet certain tests regarding their job duties and be paid on a salary basis of not less than $684 per week.
To qualify for the learned professional employee exemption, all the following tests must be met:
- The employee must be compensated on a salary or fee basis (as defined in the regulations) at a rate not less than $684 per week;
- The employee’s primary duty must be the performance of work requiring advanced knowledge, defined as work which is predominantly intellectual in character, and which includes work requiring the consistent exercise of discretion and judgment;
- The advanced knowledge must be in a field of science or learning; and
- The advanced knowledge must be customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction.
Registered nurses who are paid on an hourly basis should receive overtime pay. Registered nurses, however, who are registered by the appropriate State examining board generally meet the duties requirements for the learned professional exemption and, if paid on a salary basis of at least $684 per week, may be classified as exempt.
Licensed practical nurses and other similar health care employees, however, generally do not qualify as exempt learned professionals, regardless of work experience and training, and are entitled to overtime pay, because possession of a specialized advanced academic degree is not a standard prerequisite for entry into such occupations.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor
Nurses Who Have Been Misclassified As Exempt From Overtime
Merely because a nurse with “advanced knowledge” or a “specialized advanced academic degree” is paid a salary does not automatically mean that a nurse can properly be classified as exempt from overtime pay, particularly if a nurse who is deemed classified as exempt performs duties inconsistent with the learned professional employee exemption.
NURSES WHO BELIEVE THEY HAVE BEEN MISCLASSIFIED AS EXEMPT FROM OVERTIME PAY ARE ENCOURAGED TO COMPLETE THE FORM ABOVE ON THE RIGHT OR CONTACT KEHOE LAW FIRM, P.C., MICHAEL YARNOFF, ESQ., (215) 792-6676, EXT. 804, [email protected], [email protected], FOR A FREE, NO-OBLIGATION EVALUATION OF YOUR EMPLOYMENT CIRCUMSTANCES AND POTENTIAL LEGAL CLAIMS.
Jan 17, 2022 | Overtime & Wages
Important Information For Tipped Employees
Tipped employees are those who customarily and regularly receive more than $30 per month in tips. Tips are the property of the employee. The employer is prohibited from using an employee’s tips for any reason other than as a credit against its minimum wage obligation to the employee (“tip credit”) or in furtherance of a valid tip pool. Only tips actually received by the employee may be counted in determining whether the employee is a tipped employee and in applying the tip credit.
Tip Credit: Section 3(m) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) permits an employer to take a tip credit toward its minimum wage obligation for tipped employees equal to the difference between the required cash wage (which must be at least $2.13) and the federal minimum wage. Thus, the maximum tip credit that an employer can currently claim under the FLSA section 3(m) is $5.12 per hour (the minimum wage of $7.25 minus the minimum required cash wage of $2.13). Under certain circumstances, an employer may be able to claim an additional overtime tip credit against its overtime obligations.
For specific minimum wage information by U.S. State for tipped employees, please click “Minimum Wages for Tipped Employees By State.”
Tip Pool: The requirement that an employee must retain all tips does not preclude a valid tip pooling or sharing arrangement among employees who customarily and regularly receive tips, such as waiters, waitresses, bellhops, counter personnel (who serve customers), bussers, and service bartenders. A valid tip pool may not include employees who do not customarily and regularly received tips, such as dishwashers, cooks, chefs, and janitors.
An employer must provide the following information to a tipped employee, before the employer may use the FLSA 3(m) tip credit:
1) the amount of cash wage the employer is paying a tipped employee, which must be at least $2.13 per hour; 2) the additional amount claimed by the employer as a tip credit, which cannot exceed $5.12 (the difference between the minimum required cash wage of $2.13 and the current minimum wage of $7.25); 3) that the tip credit claimed by the employer cannot exceed the amount of tips actually received by the tipped employee; 4) that all tips received by the tipped employee are to be retained by the employee except for a valid tip pooling arrangement limited to employees who customarily and regularly receive tips; and 5) that the tip credit will not apply to any tipped employee unless the employee has been informed of these tip credit provisions.
The employer may provide oral or written notice to its tipped employees informing them of items 1-5 above. An employer who fails to provide the required information cannot use the section 3(m) tip credit and, therefore, must pay the tipped employee at least $7.25 per hour in wages and allow the tipped employee to keep all tips received.
Employers electing to use the tip credit provision must be able to show that tipped employees receive at least the minimum wage when direct (or cash) wages and the tip credit amount are combined. If an employee’s tips combined with the employer’s direct (or cash) wages of at least $2.13 per hour do not equal the minimum hourly wage of $7.25 per hour, the employer must make up the difference.
Retention Of Tips: A tip is the sole property of the tipped employee regardless of whether the employer takes a tip credit. The FLSA prohibits any arrangement between the employer and the tipped employee whereby any part of the tip received becomes the property of the employer. For example, even where a tipped employee receives at least $7.25 per hour in wages directly from the employer, the employee may not be required to turn over his or her tips to the employer.
Tip Pooling: As noted above, the requirement that an employee must retain all tips does not preclude a valid tip pooling or sharing arrangement among employees who customarily and regularly receive tips. The FLSA does not impose a maximum contribution amount or percentage on valid mandatory tip pools. The employer, however, must notify tipped employees of any required tip pool contribution amount, may only take a tip credit for the amount of tips each tipped employee ultimately receives, and may not retain any of the employees’ tips for any other purpose.
Dual Jobs: When an employee is employed by one employer in both a tipped and a non-tipped occupation, such as an employee employed both as a maintenance person and a waitperson, the tip credit is available only for the hours spent by the employee in the tipped occupation. The FLSA permits an employer to take the tip credit for some time that the tipped employee spends in duties related to the tipped occupation, even though such duties are not by themselves directed toward producing tips.
For example, a waitperson who spends some time cleaning and setting tables, making coffee, and occasionally washing dishes or glasses is considered to be engaged in a tipped occupation even though these duties are not tip producing. Where a tipped employee, however, spends a substantial amount of time (in excess of 20 percent in the workweek) performing related duties, no tip credit may be taken for the time spent in such duties.
Service Charges: A compulsory charge for service, for example, 15 percent of the bill, is not a tip. Such charges are part of the employer’s gross receipts. Sums distributed to employees from service charges cannot be counted as tips received, but may be used to satisfy the employer’s minimum wage and overtime obligations under the FLSA. If an employee receives tips in addition to the compulsory service charge, those tips may be considered in determining whether the employee is a tipped employee and in the application of the tip credit.
Credit Cards: Where tips are charged on a credit card and the employer must pay the credit card company a percentage on each sale, the employer may pay the employee the tip, less that percentage. For example, where a credit card company charges an employer 3 percent on all sales charged to its credit service, the employer may pay the tipped employee 97 percent of the tips without violating the FLSA. However, this charge on the tip may not reduce the employee’s wage below the required minimum wage. The amount due the employee must be paid no later than the regular pay day and may not be held while the employer is awaiting reimbursement from the credit card company.
Minimum Wage Problems
-Where an employee does not receive sufficient tips to make up the difference between the direct (or cash) wage payment (which must be at least $2.13 per hour) and the minimum wage, the employer must make up the difference.
-Where an employee receives tips only and is paid no cash wage, the full minimum wage is owed.
-Where deductions for walk-outs, breakage, or cash register shortages reduce the employee’s wages below the minimum wage, such deductions are illegal.
–When an employer claims an FLSA 3(m) tip credit, the tipped employee is considered to have been paid only the minimum wage for all non-overtime hours worked in a tipped occupation and the employer may not take deductions for walkouts, cash register shortages, breakage, cost of uniforms, etc., because any such deduction would reduce the tipped employee’s wages below the minimum wage.
-Where a tipped employee is required to contribute to a tip pool that includes employees who do not customarily and regularly receive tips, the employee is owed the full $7.25 minimum wage and reimbursement of the amount of tips that were improperly utilized by the employer.
Overtime Problems
-Where the employer takes the tip credit, overtime is calculated on the full minimum wage, not the lower direct (or cash) wage payment. The employer may not take a larger FLSA 3(m) tip credit for an overtime hour than for a straight time hour. Under certain circumstances, an employer may be able to claim an additional overtime tip credit against its overtime obligations.
-Where overtime is not paid based on the regular rate including all service charges, commissions, bonuses, and other remuneration.
NOTE: The aforementioned was obtained from the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) and is provided as general information concerning the application of the FLSA to employees who receive tips. The current federal regulations related to tipped employees can be found at https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-29/subtitle-B/chapter-V/subchapter-A/part-531/subpart-D.
NOTE: In the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 (“Act”), Congress vacated the DOL 2011 regulations that barred tip pooling when employers do not claim a tip credit under section 3(m) of the FLSA. Statements contained herein to the contrary are no longer policy of the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division (“WHD”). The Act did not impact WHD’s enforcement when an employer claims a tip credit.
NOTE: For current guidance on dual jobs and related duties under Section 3(m) of the FLSA, please see FAB 2019-2. (Revised April 2018).
NOTE: The DOL published a final rule, “Tip Regulations Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)” (2020 Tip final rule), in the Federal Register on December 30, 2020. See 85 FR 86756. On April 28, 2021, before the 2020 Tip final rule became effective, the DOL announced a final rule delaying the effective date of three portions of the 2020 Tip final rule for eight months, until December 31, 2021. See 86 FR 22597. This delay allowed the DOL time to publish the final rule (“CMP final rule”) withdrawing and modifying the two portions of the 2020 Tip final rule related to the assessment of Civil Money Penalties (“CMP”), see 86 FR 52973, and to publish the final rule revising the portion of the 2020 Tip final rule addressing the application of the FLSA’s tip credit provision to tipped employees who perform both tipped and non-tipped duties (“Dual Jobs final rule”).
NOTE: The DOL announced publication of the CMP final rule on September 23, 2021 (see 86 FR 52973). The CMP final rule adopts language upholding the DOL’s statutorily-granted discretion with regard to section 3(m)(2)(B) CMPs and aligns the DOL’s regulations with the FLSA’s statutory text. The CMP final rule also revises other CMP regulations addressing when a violation of section 6 (minimum wage) or section 7 (overtime) of the FLSA is “willful” and thus subject to a CMP. This revision further aligns the DOL’s regulations with applicable precedent and how the DOL actually litigates willfulness and provides improved guidance on circumstances where employers’ conduct may be willful. The CMP final rule also modifies regulatory provisions adopted in the 2020 Tip final rule addressing managers and supervisors. This revision clarifies that while managers or supervisors may not receive tips from mandatory tip pools, managers and supervisors are not prohibited from contributing tips to eligible employees in such pools.
NOTE: On October 28, 2021, the DOL announced publication of the Dual Jobs final rule. (See FR 2021-23446) This final rule finalizes the DOL’s proposal to withdraw one portion of the Tip Regulations Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (2020 Tip final rule) (See 85 FR 86756) as well as finalize revisions related to the determination of when a tipped employee is employed in dual jobs under the FLSA. The rule was effective December 28, 2021.
NOTE: The remainder of the 2020 Tip final rule—consisting of those portions addressing the keeping of tips and tip pooling, recordkeeping, and minor technical changes made to update the regulations to reflect the new statutory language and citations added by the CAA amendments—became effective on April 30, 2021.
NOTE: Additional information for employees can be found at Dual Jobs Final Rule: Tip Regulations Under the Fair Labor Standards Act; Partial Withdrawal & Dual Jobs: Definitions and Examples; Tips Dual Jobs: Tip Regulations Under the Fair Labor Standards Act; Partial Withdrawal; CMP Final Rule:Tip Regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act; Partial Withdrawal; 2020 Tip Final Rule: Tip Regulations under the FLSA.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor (accessed January 17, 2022).
Tipped employees who believe they have been a victim of wage and hour violations are encouraged to complete the form above on the right or e-mail [email protected] for a free, no-obligation evaluation of potential legal claims.
Jan 16, 2022 | Overtime & Wages
A federal investigation recovered $270,984 in back wages and liquidated damages for 166 workers of a Princeton skilled nursing care facility. The employer failed to pay proper overtime as required by the Fair Labor Standards Act.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division determined that Princeton Memorial Company – operating as Princeton Health Care Center – failed to pay the proper overtime premium to employees working 12-hour shifts.
The employer was found to have failed to pay the required overtime when employees worked in excess of 8 hours in any workday and in excess of 80 hours in an established 14-day period, a practice permitted for hospitals and residential care facilities, under certain conditions. Princeton Health also failed to include on-call pay and other bonuses in the calculation of overtime pay. The employer paid bonuses for longevity, recruitment, vacation deferral and hero pay related to the pandemic.
To resolve its violations, Princeton Health Care Center paid $270,984 in back wages and liquidated damages to the affected workers including registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and certified nursing assistant as well as dietary, maintenance and housekeeping/laundry workers.
Under the FLSA, hospitals and residential care establishments may use a fixed work period of 14 consecutive days in lieu of the 40-hour workweek for the purpose of computing overtime. To use this exception, an employer must have a prior agreement or understanding with affected employees before the work is performed.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor
If you believe you have been a victim of wage and hour violations, please complete the form above on the right or e-mail [email protected] for a free, no-obligation evaluation of potential legal claims.
Jan 14, 2022 | Overtime & Wages
Wage & Hour Investigation On Behalf Of Warehouse Workers In Pennsylvania Who Have Not Been Paid For Spending Time In Security Screenings Before Or After A Work Shift
If you have been a Warehouse Worker employed in Pennsylvania who has been required to spend time going through security screenings before or after your work shift, you may have a claim for unpaid wages for “off-the-clock” time going through security screenings required by your employer.
In regards to warehouse workers, employees should be aware that Amazon was recently ordered by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to pay its warehouse workers for time spent in security screenings.
Workers at Amazon Fulfillment Centers in Pennsylvania are required to go through security screenings after they clock out at the end of the workday. This is done as a precautionary measure by the company to minimize losses due to employee theft. Such security screenings are solely done for the benefit of the company. Despite the extensive amount of time spent in security screenings, Amazon never paid their employees for this time. But in 2013, two Amazon employees at the company’s Breinigsville, PA warehouse filed a class action lawsuit seeking compensation for the time they spent waiting in line to have their bags searched.
Eventually, the class action reached the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which ruled that this practice violates the Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act. Specifically, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court determined that under the Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act, the phrase “hours worked” includes “any time when an employee is required by the employer to be on the premises of the employer.” Further, there is no exception for “de minimis” amounts of time under the Act.
The Court’s holding in the Amazon case that time spent in security checks is compensable is not only important for Amazon employees in Pennsylvania, it also is significant for any worker in Pennsylvania who has been required by his or her employer to spend time off-the-clock going through security screenings.
Warehouse Workers in Pennsylvania who have not been compensated for pre- and post-shift security screenings are encouraged to contact Kehoe Law Firm, P.C., Michael Yarnoff, Esq., (215) 792-6676, Ext. 804, [email protected], [email protected], to learn more about the wage and hour investigation and potential legal claims.
