Changes Needed To Deter Violations of Fair Labor Standards Act

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) sets standards for recordkeeping, minimum wage, overtime pay, and other protections for workers in establishments engaged in interstate and foreign commerce. Noncompliance with the act can severely harm low-wage workers. While the act does protect employee wages when employers voluntarily comply, there are insufficient deterrents to discourage employers from violating the act. Administrative and statutory limitations can prevent the Department of Labor from fully recovering wages illegally withheld. GAO found extensive recordkeeping violations. However, there are no civil penalties for recordkeeping violations and, while criminal penalties exist, they are not used. There are also no civil money penalties for violating minimum wage and overtime violations. Although criminal and liquidated damage penalties exist for willful violations, they have not been used extensively. Many employers appear to have willfully violated the act. Labor officials rarely seek criminal sanctions because the Department of Justice is hesitant to prosecute them, and filing criminal suits reduces Labor's ability to recover employee back wages. Regional solicitors have seldom sought liquidated damage penalties against willful violators. As a result, habitual or flagrant violators receive no harsher treatment than do employers who inadvertently violate the act. The statute of limitations restricts an employer's obligation to repay employees back wages in such a manner that back wages are lost. Several administrative practices followed by Labor also limit the back wages that employees eventually recover.

Beginning with background perspective on the Fair Labor Standards Act--and ending with specific litigation issues & strategies--here is your one-source reference to the FLSA & its complex legal applications in today's workplace. A team of eminent specialists from the ABA Section of Labor & Employment Law's Federal Labor Standards Legislation Committee gives you insights & tactics including: . history & coverage of the FLSA . what constitutes a violation of the Act . exemptions to the law--including white-collar jobs & other statutory exemptions . how to determine compensable hours, minimum wage, & overtime compensation . special issues for federal & state workers . proper recordkeeping procedures . consequences for retaliation by employers . enforcement of the law--and remedies for violations . emerging & volatile topics including child labor, homework, hot goods violations, & much more . plus specific litigation strategies to meet nearly any challenge you may face in handling cases affected by the FLSA.