Archive for 2009
Summer Jobs Part II – Farm Jobs
With the summer job search in full swing, many young people living outside Atlanta may be looking to work on a farm for the season. There are a number of regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act that apply to young farm workers that parents and children need to be aware of. Consulting an employment…
Read MoreWhistleblower Case Upheld by ALJ
Last month, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Administrative Review Board (ARB) rendered a decision upholding an Administrative Law Judge’s pro-whistleblower decision under the Sabanes- Oxley Act (often referred to as SOX these days). The ALJ in Kalkunte v. DVI Financial Services, Inc., a case decided in 2005, held that a privately-held company acting as a contractor,…
Read MoreClassifying Home Health Care Workers
Atlanta is replete with people who work in the field of home health care. Home health care workers have a special set of regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act. For instance, a home health care worker may or may not be entitled to overtime pay, depending on the circumstances of employment. First, the definition. A…
Read MoreWhen Do Salaried Employees Qualify for Overtime Pay?
Most salaried employees don’t get overtime pay. But is the reverse true-does an employer have to pay full salary if the employee isn’t at work? Some deductions from pay will be proper, but some may cause an employee to lose that exempt status and qualify for overtime. Allowable deductions to your salary, according to a July…
Read MoreSummer Jobs – Don’t be Exploited
Summer vacation is around the corner, and many young people are lining up summer jobs this month. As you would think, the US Department of Labor has very specific rules concerning youth employment. Parents need to be very careful that their kids aren’t being exploited out there in the workforce, and may want to check…
Read MoreOvertime for Nurses
Nobody may work harder, and nobody may have more job satisfaction, than a nurse. But with all of those hours put in, do nurses generally qualify for overtime pay, or are they exempted under the FLSA? The answer to that question may depend on what kind of nurse you are, what your duties are, what…
Read MoreIs Your Layoff Really Retaliation?
What if what looks like a standard layoff is really hiding an illegal act, such as retaliation, against an employee? Retaliation may be hard to pin down, but it may be actionable if all of the facts line up. Basically, a retaliatory firing is one that occurs because the employee has complained of discrimination or…
Read MoreOvertime for Journalists
Are reporters entitled to overtime pay? Will they write about it more if they are? Even with the well- documented decline of print media, there are certainly enough reporters left on the job for this to be an ongoing issue. And reporters facing layoffs will certainly have any number of questions that could be directed to…
Read MoreLawyer Layoffs
It may be hard to believe, but the buzz among attorneys in these days of so much financial difficulty has as much to do with lawyers being laid off as with their clients having hard times. More and more lawyers, it seems, are now looking for legal advice from employment attorneys. Lawyer layoffs have been growing considerably…
Read MoreFamily and Medical Leave Updated Poster
The U.S. Department of Labor recently updated its basic informational poster to reflect changes in the Fair Labor Standards Act, including the new military family leave entitlements enacted under the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008, as well as changes in the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), all of which took effect on January 16th.…
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