Extreme close up: wages and hours

It’s been a crazy last few months with changes to wage and hour rules and “interpretations.” It’s not going to be long before I wake from a nightmare screaming, “No FLSA! Get away! Let go of me!” and put the neighborhood on high alert. Thankfully, our partners at Baker & McKenzie have taken us weary soldiers under their protection and issued their quarterly wage and hour newsletter that includes an overview of all the highlights of the past few months, including the:

• IRS and their audit letters
• “Plan, Prevent, and Protect” strategy
• Paycheck Fairness Act
• New interpretation of donning and doffing “clothes”
• Employee Misclassification Prevention Act
• And more!

To get all the details on what’s been shakin’n’bakin’ these past few months, read the Baker & McKenzie wage and hour newsletter by clicking here.

FREE Wages and Hour webinar from Baker & McKenzie

This past week I watched a great webinar put on by the attorneys at our partner firm, Baker & McKenzie. The topic was the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and how a law conceived during the Great Depression is pushing against the global, efficiency-focused labor market we live in today. In just an hour, I had a really good grasp of the current legal landscape, found out where employers are making mistakes, and learned what you can do to prevent problems in the future.

The webinar agenda includes:

• The Explosion of FLSA Litigation
• Losing Sleep ­– Employer Exposure under the FLSA
• The Big-Time – FLSA Class Actions
• On Sleeping Better – Prevention and Defenses

Best of all, it’s available on-demand, so you can watch at your convenience.  Click here to learn more!

Social media rears its ugly head

Often when we speak of social media in regards to the workplace, we are talking about how it can affect employees’ productivity. But the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) new regulations brings up an entirely different concern. Employers must warn their employees that promotion of an employer’s products or services on blogs and other social media sites cannot be covert. That means if an employee posts on a website or makes a comment in an open forum, he or she must disclose his or her relationship to the company.

Why? The FTC claims that these endorsements further the practice of “astroturfing” (because it appears to be ‘grassroots’ support, but is not), which misleads consumers about the quality or popularity of a product or service. Do your employees know what to do to stay in compliance with this law?

Our partners at Baker & McKenzie have put together a great article to help you understand this issue. Here are some steps you can take right now to ensure you’re in compliance:

• Adopt a policy that requires employees to disclose their employment relationship when making online or social media comments promoting the employer, its products, or services.
• Ask the company’s marketing or legal team to approve comments before being posted.
• Train employees on all company policies and legal obligations that are involved in making representations about products or companies online.

To read “New Worries with Social Media for Employers” by our partners at Baker & McKenzie, click here.