Breeding ground for FLSA lawsuits
July 7, 2009 by Bill MeltzerPosted in: Employment law, FLSA, Latest News & Views
Heads up: If your firm has hourly employees who work through lunch or break periods, you could be at risk of being force-fed the lawsuit du jour.
In recent years, several state supreme courts have ruled that employers can be held liable for up to four years of back pay and/or overtime for violations of mandatory breaks. Ever since, there’s been a wave of employee lawyers around the country looking to cash in.
Two key steps for avoiding trouble:
- verify your state laws on mandatory lunch and/or rest breaks, and
- remind supervisors to insist non-exempt employees take their breaks, even if the employee says he or she wants to skip them.
Tags: FLSA
July 10th, 2009 at 9:48 am
There are no mandatory breaks in my state, BUT we have employees who do not take lunch. They intend to leave before getting 7 hours in but it doesn’t always happen. We also have employees who don’t clock out because they “forget”. We deduct that break because we know they took it. Then the question arises to how long was the break.
My problem is how do I know that one is taking a break and one is not? We try to get the supervisor to sign off on working through lunch but it doesn’t always happen.
Anybody have an efficient system in place, that will keep the company out of trouble?
July 10th, 2009 at 11:17 am
Sounds to me like Sandy has a displinary action situation. Our company will bring disciplinary action if someone works through their lunch without prior arrangements or permission – it is written into company policy and therefore a policy violation if not adhered to…this includes supervisory sign offs. Granted, you still have to pay them if they worked through the lunch but it will only happen so many times before termination for policy violation gets through the staff’s heads.
I would tighten up, if not already, on the policy of breaks and lunches and if supervisor’s aren’t signing off then they are not living up to the duties of their job.
July 10th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
Several years ago we faced fines/penalities for allowing employees to “suffer” work while on lunch break. Our solution, we began paying all meal periods. If an employee left the premises during lunch we required them to clockout. Problem solved. We staggered start times and capped each day at 8 hours. If the phone rang at lunch someone put down their sub-sandwich answered it…while getting paid to do so. Employee approval went skyhigh!
July 16th, 2009 at 11:53 am
I dont have a comment but a some problem. Can anyone give me a solution for this. Where do you turn to when the HR Manager has a problem?
July 16th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
Sandy, our employees know the policies, but some tend to work through breaks. We have a time clock system that automatically deducts for lunch. The employees do take their lunch, because they know they are getting docked for it.
July 16th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Sandy,
I agree with Helen. Pay them and then write them up. I hate being the time clock cop but it’s the only way to protect the company.
July 20th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Pat –
I would be careful with “automatic” lunch hour deductions. If someone worked through lunch, even if the time clock automatically clocks them out, the employee can come back and say “but I worked through my lunch hour” – and DOL is going to lean towards the employee, doesn’t matter if they were clocked out or not….if they worked, they worked and you must pay them. I still say the policy manual will back you in that someone should be written up for not leaving their desk to take their lunch if the manual says that they must be “relieved of their duties” for the lunch break.
August 6th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
KD did not state what the HR mgr’s problem was? I’m curious.
October 10th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
Anyone want to comment on non-exempts working unsupervised on weekends (we are a M-F company) so they can make-up missed time from the previous week?