Is your business ready for an AUDIT by the Department of Labor?

As if small business owners don't have enough to deal with right now adjusting to the new minimum wage and attracting and retaining competent help that actually SHOWS UP TO WORK, word on the street has it that the U.S. Department of Labor has set its sight on investigating employers in low-wage industries for wage and hour violations.

Yes. If you are a business owner employing workers in the areas of agriculture, day care, food service, garment manufacturing, guard services, health care, hotels and motels, janitorial services?and temporary help, you could be facing an AUDIT by the Department of Labor. What the heck does that even MEAN?

It means you better have a PLAN.

According to the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor , business owners have the responsibility to pay employees properly, maintain certain records, adhere to certain requirements if employing minors, provide eligible workers with unpaid family or medical leave, and notify employees of their rights in the workplace. What does THAT mean?

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is one of the laws enforced by the Wage & Hour Division of the US Department of Labor. The FLSA establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and child labor standards that affect most full-time and part-time workers in the private sector and in federal, state, and local governments.

Major provisions covered by the FLSA are:

Minimum Wage: Generally, employers must pay most employees the federal minimum wage for all hours worked.

Overtime: Overtime pay must be at a rate of at least one and one-half times the regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek (unless otherwise exempted from doing so).

Hours Worked: Hours worked cover all the time performing activities that are part of the employee's job, including all the time during which an employee is required to be on duty, or on the employer’s premises, or at any prescribed place of work.

Youth Employment: ?The rules vary depending upon the age of the young worker and his or her occupation, but 2 things are certain:

1. Once an employee is 18, there are no Federal child labor rules.
2. Federal child labor rules do not require work permits (but many states issue age certificates, also known as "working papers").

Recordkeeping: Employers must keep employee time and payroll records.

Poster: Employers must also display an official poster outlining the requirements of the FLSA.

The idea here is to have a plan to make sure that your business complies with the legal responsibilities of being an employer. TALK with your H.R. Department to update your company policies and procedures. KNOW how employee records are managed, what to do when an employee files a complaint, where to go for more information. Click HERE to access the Basic Compliance Toolkit from the Wage and Hour Division.

If you have an interest in learning how our team at VISION-HR, Inc. can support your business, click HERE to schedule time to talk with me . VISION-HR has an entire TEAM of HR experts who can craft solutions to make a valuable impact on your bottom line. If you are interested in increasing productivity and profitability while reducing the amount of time your business spends on burdensome HR tasks, we should talk.