Wage-Hour lawsuits: is your company a target?

• Author: Bernard, Bryan K.
• Position: Legal Briefs

The answer is $143,000,000. The question? How much did employers pay during fiscal year 2002 in response to wage and hour actions brought by the United States Department of Labor (DOL). Employers paid this staggering amount of damages to 241,568 employees whose claims were prosecuted by the DOL. Even more alarming is the fact that the $143,000,000doesn't include the millions of dollars paid by employers in response to direct lawsuits filed by individual employees. Based on these numbers, every employer should be concerned about wage and hour issues.

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The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) governs the majority of wage and overtime issues, as well as outlining child labor protection laws. The DOL Wage and Hour Division is charged with the enforcement of wage laws and investigations of employers to ensure compliance with those laws. DOL investigations are generally started in response to employee complaints about violations of the FLSA, or the DOL selects a certain type of business or industry to investigate. Typically, a disgruntled employee who believes she is not being properly paid will contact the local Wage and Hour Division office and file a complaint. An employee may, however, simply proceed to file an individual lawsuit against his employer in either state or federal court.

What can employers do to help avoid complaints by employees or the DOL? "First, an employer should be responsible and informed and should seek compliance assistance from the Wage and Hour Division, industry associations or attorneys with expertise in labor laws," says Joi Lin Allen, the Director of Enforcement for the Salt Lake City office of the Wage and Hour Division. "Second, an employer needs to be receptive and open to questions from their employees as to problems that may exist." In addition, Allen explains that an employer should stay up to date with documentation. "If an employer does not keep good records, they are really at the...