Over the last few years, the United States Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has been cracking down on employers who violate the rights of their employees. Business owners in Pennsylvania should educate themselves to ensure that they are not in violation of any of these laws, even inadvertently. As an employer, you should have policies and procedures in place to ensure that your company is operating within the framework of both state and federal laws.
Record keeping matters
It is generally recommended that employers keep employee records for three years on all hourly employees. While your payroll department will keep some information, there is other information that you should log. The following information can be vital if you ever face a wage and hour dispute:
- Employee name
- Employee gender
- Employee address
- Workweek info
- Overtime hours worked
- Hourly rate of pay
- Additions or deductions from pay
Pay on time every time
Even though making payroll on time can be stressful, you owe it to your employees to ensure that they receive every dollar they earned on the day you typically pay them. Business owners could avoid many of the suits that disgruntled employees file if they simply made sure that their employees were paid in full and on time. Failure to do so is a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Clearly define work duties
As a business owner, you should have a working knowledge of what every person on your payroll does. Operating your business with that knowledge in mind allows you to ensure that you have correctly defined the roles of hourly employees, salary employees and contractors. Having written job duties also ensures that you and your employees are on the same page about what they are responsible for.
As a business owner, you should have a trusted attorney on retainer. This attorney can help represent you in any claims filed against you while also ensuring that you are not in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.