Exempt or Non-Exempt? FLSA and State Law Employment Classification Lawsuits on the Rise

Description

Collective claims challenging the classification of employees as exempt from overtime pay under FLSA increased by 77% in recent years. Some FLSA lawsuits have resulted in multimillion-dollar verdicts. State lawsuits are also on the rise, as state laws are often even more employee-friendly.

The U.S. Department of Labor reports that approximately 70% of employers are out of compliance with the FLSA. To avoid potential claims, it is critical that counsel advise employers to reexamine and, where necessary, adjust their worker classification practices.

Listen as our panel of employment law attorneys discusses the types of positions that are most commonly misclassified, best practices for performing self audits, and strategies for employers to identify and correct classification errors to limit liability exposure.

Outline

1. Current legal trends
2. Positions most vulnerable for FLSA claims — and how to determine correct classification
   1. Clerical and administrative support personnel
   2. Assistant managers, supervisors and team leaders without sufficient staff
   3. IT workers
   4. Sales staff
3. Self-audit strategies
   1. Who should conduct audit?
   2. Review pay practices and policies — overtime, bonuses, etc.
   3. Review job descriptions versus what employees actually do
   4. Review new positions added after a merger or acquisition
   5. Documenting the audit
4. Correcting errors and limiting liability exposure
   1. Establish compliance program
      1. Employee complaint process
      2. Overtime policies
      3. Policies for violating rules on falsifying time sheets and working off the clock
   2. Reclassify positions to protect exemptions
   3. Consider voluntarily paying back wages
   4. Should you notify the DOL of error?
   5. Prepare for state or federal regulatory inquiry into classification practices

Benefits

The panel will review these and other key questions:

• Which positions are most often misclassified as exempt — and how can employers determine the appropriate classification for such positions?
• What self-audit strategies are effective to identify and correct errors — and protect the company from future liability?
• What are the legal risks of voluntarily paying back wages to misclassified employees?
• Should employers take the initiative to notify the Department of Labor of classification errors discovered during self audits?

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