Half-Day Employment Program - Wage & Hour Update

This seminar was held when the December 1 implementation deadline was quickly approaching for the new federal overtime rules, as well as proposed changes in state minimum wage requirements and proposed changes in state rules. Recently, wage/hour issues have had a higher profile than at any time in recent memory, and in addition to current compliance challenges arising out of a changing legal landscape, employers must anticipate an increase in wage/hour claims and wage/hour litigation.
In our half-day program on wage/hour issues, we drilled-down into a variety of wage/hour topics, including:

• The current minimum wage and overtime requirements, including recent legal developments, proposed rules in Maine, and challenges to the new federal overtime rules, as well as strategies for compliance;
• Scope and coverage of statutory minimum wage and overtime requirements, including for independent contractors;
• Administrative and non-administrative enforcement of wage/hour requirements, individual and class action litigation, remedies, and employer liability for wage/hour claims;
• Minimum wage and overtime exemptions, including exemptions for tip credits and potential abolition of the tip credit by the minimum wage referendum;
• The definition of “hours worked,” including call time, meal periods, preliminary/post-liminary work, travel time, and other recurring issues;
• Wage payment and wage/hour recordkeeping requirements.

We were pleased to be joined by Pamela Megathlin, Director of the Maine Bureau of Labor Standards, who spoke on the Bureau’s current enforcement priorities and the new proposed rules in Maine addressing differences between the new federal overtime rules and state law.

This half-day program was submitted for approval to HRCI for HR General Recertification Credit.