Get Expert Advice to Comply with New FLSA Rules

On April 20, the U.S. Department of Labor launched a nationwide anxiety attack for HR professionals and business owners when it issued the new FairPay Rules under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

SUNRISE, FL (PRWEB) August 16, 2004 -- On April 20, the U.S. Department of Labor launched a nationwide anxiety attack for HR professionals and business owners when it issued the new FairPay Rules under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

The new regulations take effect August 23, so you need to start preparing fast," says Ashley Kaplan, an employment-law attorney with Sunrise-based G.Neil Corp.

The Labor Department estimated a few months ago that more than half of all U.S. companies had incorrectly classified employees under the FLSA, and that was before the new rules," Kaplan said. And, in many cases, all it takes is one employee phone call to the DOL with an overtime complaint to start an investigation of a companys entire classification process."

The FairPay Rules take effect nationally on August 23rd. They will affect the overtime eligibility of millions of Americans, regardless of the color of their collars, because the old definitions of exempt" and non-exempt" status are gone with the wind.

This means that employers across America will now have to evaluate each employees actual job duties and wages under the regulations new criteria to determine who can be paid a salary and who must punch timecards, to ensure overtime compliance under FLSA" Kaplan said.

Noncompliance Can Be Costly

One fact remains clear," Kaplan warned. Employers who do not thoroughly assess their procedures to ensure that their employees are classified properly under these new FLSA rules will run some serious and potentially expensive risks, including DOL audits and even class-action lawsuits.

DOL wage-and-hour settlements have reached an all-time high," she added, with record increases in back pay settlements and jury damage awards. Employers simply cant afford not to start protecting themselves."

G.Neil has specialized in labor law compliance for more than 15 years and offers numerous products to help business owners and managers comply with the new FLSA FairPay Rules. These include the companys new FLSA Compliance Kit and attorney-developed ComplyWare FLSA Software.

The fully updated FLSA Compliance Kit contains a detailed guidebook with complete coverage of the FairPay Rules, a policy notice, wage-and-hour compliance rules for employees and supervisors, plus a handy form to make payroll status changes, when necessary. The ComplyWare software contains all the same forms plus excerpts from the guidebook, and it even shows the user how to determine an employees exempt or non-exempt status under the new rules.

For details or more information about these and other FLSA compliance products, call toll-free 1-800-999-9111 or visit www.gneil.com.

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Based in suburban Fort Lauderdale, Fla., privately held G.Neil Corp. develops and markets more than 7,000 tools to manage and motivate people" to more than 1 million customers worldwide. It specializes in products that help employers manage everyday workplace issues, products that include HR forms and software, pre-employment and substance testing, workplace safety solutions, and labor law compliance posters.

Ashley Kaplan
954-846-8899
akaplan@gneil.com