PEOPLE: HR Corner Common Wage Offenses by Employers By Staff Monday, November 3, 2014 10:13 AM NEW YORK—Oftentimes, employers do not examine specific Federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and state wage and hour laws to ensure their businesses are complying with the specific laws. FLSA cases filed by employees have risen each year since 2009, and there is no sign that this trend will level off or reverse. You should review the following aspects of your business and HR practices once a year to ensure full compliance. Here are key areas for your internal review and analysis: • Paying insufficient overtime (often related to misclassifying exempt and non-exempt positions). • Violating minimum wage rules (hourly pay as well as proper payment of bonuses and commissions for positions in receipt of either payments). • Off the clock claims (often preparing for work before clocking-in, or clean-up work performed after clocking out). • Misclassifying employees as exempt instead of non-exempt. • Misclassifying employees as independent contractors rather than employees. • Retaliation. Hedley Lawson, Contributing Editor Managing Partner Aligned Growth Partners, LLC (707) 217-0979 hlawson@alignedgrowth.com www.alignedgrowth.com