Wage and Hour Defense Blog

By: Michael D. Thompson

ESPN broadcaster Keith Olbermann recently held a mock press conference in which he pretended to be the new Commissioner of Baseball, and explained how he would improve the game in that role.  For example, World Series games would start early enough for kids to watch them, the designated hitter would be eliminated, and Vin Scully would call all World Series games.

I’d like to do something similar.  I am pleased to inform you that, for the rest of this blog entry, let’s assume that I am the new Secretary of Labor.

Effective immediately:

1. An employer’s liability to ...

By: Kara M. Maciel

Earlier this month, we released our Wage and Hour Division Investigation Checklist for employers and have received a lot of great feedback with additional questions. Following up on that feedback, we will be regularly posting FAQs as a regular feature of our Wage & Hour Defense Blog.

In this post, we address a common issue that many employers are facing in light of increased government enforcement at the state and federal level from the Department of Labor.

QUESTION: “I am aware that my industry is being targeted by the DOL for audits and several of my ...

The Wage and Hour Division issued new updated regulations for non-agricultural industries on May 19, 2010.  These laws strengthened the restrictions on minors under age 18 working in dangerous occupations or around certain equipment or machinery in the workplace.

A practical chart from DOL showing the differences in the old and new regulations can be found here.

Hazardous occupations are no place for employees under the age of 18. Employers must be certain to prohibit minors from operating power driven wood working machines, metal working machines, bakery machines, fork lifts, balers and compactors, meat slicers, and nail guns. The full list of hazardous occupations are set forth in the Code of Federal Regulations, 29 C.F.R. 570, et. seq. Protecting America's children in the workplace has long been a stated objective of the U.S. Department of Labor, and the civil money penalties for serious violations have recently been strengthened.