• Failure to pay for all hours an employee is “suffered or permitted” to work.
• Limiting employees to reporting 40 hours (or limited overtime) and directing them to get the job done, and ignoring the time it takes to accomplish the time.
• Failure to pay for pre or post shift work activities
• Confusing federal and state law.
• Improperly applying an exemption
• Failure to include all types of pay received in calculating an employee’s regular rate for overtime
• Not totaling work done in separate employer establishments when calculating the overtime due
• Making illegal deductions from wages — shortages, drive-offs, damage, tools, uniforms, etc. that cuts into the minimum wage or overtime
• Deducting rest breaks from work hours
• Employee works during meal break and is not paid
• Employee takes work home and the hours are not recorded or paid
• Not paying for compensable travel time
• Not paying for employee meetings
What the FLSA does not require from employees:
• Vacation, holiday, severance or sick pay.
• Meal or rest periods, holidays off, or vacations
• Premium pay for weekend or holiday work
• A discharge notice, reason for discharge, or immediate payment of final wages to terminated employees
• Any limit on the number of hours in a day or days in a week an employee at least 16 years old may be required or scheduled to work.
• Pay raise or fringe benefits
Dan Wang, an investigator of the Saipan NMI District Office, Labor Wage and Hour Division, said avoiding these errors can spare employers future troubles in dealing with painful labor suits.
“If you have any problems or need any clarification on any issues about labor, wages and similar issues, don’t hesitate to call us and we would be glad to assist you,” Dan said in her Power Point presentation during a luncheon meeting at the Pacific Islands Club hosted by the CNMI Society of Human Resource Management on March 31.
For more information, check out other major wage hour division administered laws or visit the WHD homepage at www.wagehour.dol.gov, call the WHD-toll-free information and help line at 1-866-487-9243,or call the nearest WHD office at 233-0740 on Saipan.
