Epstein Becker Green's Wage and Hour Leaders Discuss Hot Button Issues at 34th Annual Workforce Management Briefing

On October 15, 2015, Epstein Becker Green hosted its 34th Annual Workforce Management Briefing, which featured senior officials from the U.S. Department of Labor and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.  This year's briefing boasted a record setting attendance, including industry leaders, general counsel and senior human resources professionals, many of whom attended the briefing workshop, Wage and Hour Compliance: You Are Not Exempt.

The Wage and Hour workshop featured three of Epstein Becker Green's wage and hour practice attorneys -- Michael Kun, Patrick Brady and Jeffrey Ruzal -- who addressed pressing wage and hour issues that face workforce management today.

Much of the program was dedicated to a discussion of two recent U.S. Department of Labor initiatives.  On July 6, 2015, the DOL published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that, when finalized, would extend overtime protection to approximately five million white-collar workers who are currently not entitled to overtime pay because they are exempt from the FLSA.  Shortly thereafter, on July 15, 2015, the DOL's Wage and Hour Administrator David Weil issued Administrator's Interpretation No. 2015-1, concluding that many employers throughout the country are improperly classifying workers as independent contractors.  Mike, Pat and Jeff discussed the DOL's initiatives at length by dissecting the interpretation and proposed regulations, explaining the potential ramifications of non-compliance, and offering potential business-friendly solutions.

In addition to the DOL's recent initiatives, the program focused on other significant wage and hour issues, including intern misclassification, tip-related issues, and bonus classification.  You can access the workshop's slide presentation here.

Judging by the rampant increase in the number of wage and hour lawsuits and investigations being brought by the government and private plaintiffs, we expect that we will be reprising our program at the workforce management briefing next year.