Pocket Guide to the Fair Labor Standards Act (5th ed., 2020)
$30.00
By Cathleen A. Williams and Edmund K. Brehl
Updated by Brian Walter
Reviewed by Christopher Platten
5th edition, 2020
996 in stock
Description
This Pocket Guide replaces the 2017 4th edition. CPER’s FLSA guide focuses on the Act’s impact in the public sector workplace and explains complicated provisions of the law that have vexed public sector practitioners, like the “salary basis” test and deductions from pay and leave for partial-day absences.
Each chapter tackles a broad topic by providing a detailed discussion of the law’s many applications in special workplace environments. For example, the chapter that covers overtime calculation begins by defining regular rate of pay and then considers the payment of bonuses, fluctuating workweeks, and alternative work periods for law enforcement and fire protection employees. Other chapters focus on record keeping requirements, hours of work, and “white collar” exemptions. In each case, detailed footnotes offer an in-depth discussion of the varied applications of the FLSA.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Coauthor Edmund “Deak” Brehl served as labor relations counsel for the California Department of Personnel Administration, in Sacramento. The DPA represents state agencies in all aspects of labor law before administrative agencies and in the state and federal courts. Coauthor Cathleen A. Williams is an attorney in private practice in Sacramento. She specializes in FLSA cases on behalf of employees and unions. This edition was updated by Brian Walter, a partner with the law firm of Liebert Cassidy Whitmore, which represents public agency management in all aspects of labor and employment law, including labor relations, civil litigation and education. Walter regularly advises and counsels in all areas of employment and labor law, including the FLSA. He conducts FLSA audits for clients, represents clients in DOL and DLSE audits, and presents FLSA trainings. He is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board for Thompson Publishing Group’s Fair Labor Standards Handbook for States, Local Governments and Schools. Charbonneau represents public employers in FLSA and other employment litigation, as well as advises on FLSA audits, FLSA compliance efforts, and other labor and employment law subjects. Review attorney Christopher Platten is a partner with Wylie, McBride, Platten & Renner in San Jose.
Table of Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. Overview | 1 |
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A. History of the FLSA in the Public Sector | 1 |
B. The Department of Labor’s FLSA Regulations | 4 |
1. DOL regulations | 5 |
2. DOL interpretative bulletins and letter rulings | 5 |
C. State Wage and Hour Law | 6 |
II. Exclusions From FLSA Coverage | 7 |
A. Exclusions for Elected Officials, Their Staff, and Certain Employees of Legislative Bodies | 7 |
1. Statutory exclusion | 7 |
2. Criteria for each excluded class | 8 |
B. Independent Contractors | 9 |
1. The DOL’s ‘totality of circumstances’ test | 9 |
C. Trainees | 10 |
D. Volunteers | 11 |
1. Permissible payments and benefits | 11 |
2. Current employees cannot volunteer to perform the same or similar services | 13 |
E. Total Exemption for Small Fire and Police Departments | 14 |
F. Prison Inmates | 14 |
G. Case Studies on FLSA Coverage | 15 |
III. Overtime Exemptions | 17 |
A. The White Collar Exemption | 17 |
1. The salary test | 17 |
2. The duties test | 23 |
B. Exemption for Highly Compensated Employees | 31 |
C. Application of Exemptions to First Responders | 32 |
D. Computer Employee Exemption | 32 |
E. Recreational Establishment Exemption | 33 |
F. Case Studies on Overtime Exemptions | 34 |
IV. The Work Period | 36 |
A. Definition of Workweek | 36 |
1. Requirement to designate | 36 |
2. Requirements regarding change of workweeks | 37 |
B. The 7(b) Work Period | 37 |
1. The 26-week/1,040-hour work period | 37 |
2. The 52-week/2,080-hour work period | 38 |
C. The Hospital 7(j) Work Period | 39 |
D. Public Safety 7(k) Work Periods | 39 |
1. Fire protection activities | 38 |
2. Law enforcement activities | 42 |
3. Twenty-percent limitation on nonexempt work | 43 |
E. Case Studies on the Work Period | 43 |
V. Hours Worked | 45 |
A. Distinction Between Paid Leave Time and Actual Hours Worked | 45 |
B. Volunteer Work Time | 46 |
C. Recording and Rounding Small Amounts of Time | 46 |
D. Substitute Work for Another Employee | 47 |
E. Employees Working in More Than One Position for the Same Employer | 48 |
1. Definition of ‘occasional or sporadic’ | 48 |
2. Definition of work ‘in a different capacity’ | 48 |
3. Special rule for law enforcement | 48 |
4. Special rule for teaching activities | 49 |
5. Special rule for court reporters employed by a public entity | 49 |
F. Waiting Time | 50 |
G. On-Call and Stand-By Time | 50 |
1. Factors regarding ability to engage in personal pursuits | 51 |
H. Rest Periods | 52 |
I. Meal Periods | 53 |
1. Meal periods for public safety personnel on a 7(k) work period | 53 |
J. Sleep Time | 54 |
1. Duty of less than 24 hours | 54 |
2. Duty of 24 hours or more | 55 |
3. Sleep periods for 7(k) police and fire personnel | 55 |
K. Pre- and Post-Shift Activities | 55 |
1. Travel to and from work | 56 |
L. Travel Time | 57 |
1. Travel to and from work | 57 |
2. Travel during the workday | 57 |
3. Overnight travel | 58 |
M. Training Time | 58 |
1. Definition of voluntary attendance | 59 |
2. Definition of training directly related to employee’s job | 59 |
3. Training required for certification by a higher agency | 59 |
4. Independent training | 60 |
5. Employer-sponsored training and education programs | 60 |
6. Apprenticeship training programs | 60 |
N. Work at Home | 60 |
1. Employees who reside on employer premises or work at home | 60 |
2. K9 cases | 61 |
3. Cleaning and maintenance of motorcycles and trucks | 62 |
O. Grievance Processing Time | 62 |
P. Early Relief | 63 |
Q. Off-Duty Special Detail Work | 63 |
R. Medical Treatment for Employees | 64 |
S. Case Studies on Hours Worked | 64 |
VI. Compensatory Time Off Under the FLSA | 68 |
A. Distinction Beween FLSA CTO and Non-FLSA CTO | 68 |
B. Employer and Employee Must Agree That CTO Compensation Is Permissible | 69 |
1. Represented employees | 69 |
2. Unrepresented employees | 69 |
C. CTO Accruals | 69 |
1. Public safety activities | 70 |
2. Emergency response activities | 70 |
3. Seasonal activities | 70 |
D. Use of Accumulated FLSA CTO | 71 |
1. ‘Reasonable period’ | 71 |
2. ‘Unduly disrupt’ | 71 |
3. Forced use of CTO | 71 |
4. No standards for use of non-FLSA CTO | 72 |
E. Payment for Accumulated FLSA CTO | 72 |
F. Penalties for Violatoin of the FLSA CTO Provision | 73 |
G. Case Studies on CTO | 73 |
VII. Regular Rate of Pay | 74 |
A. Calculation of the Regular Rate of Pay | 75 |
1. The hourly employee | 75 |
2. Employees paid on a basis other than hourly | 75 |
3. 7(k) work period employees | 76 |
B. Fixed Wages for Fluctuating Hours | 76 |
C. The Regular Rate for Employees at More Than One Rate of Pay | 76 |
1. Weighted average method | 77 |
2. Rate for the position in which overtime work is performed | 77 |
D. Payments Excluded From Regular Rate of Pay | 77 |
E. Payments Included in Regular Rate of Pay | 79 |
F. Timely Payment of Wages | 79 |
G. Case Studies on the Regular Rate of Pay | 80 |
VIII. Minimum Wage | 82 |
A. Newly Hired Employees Under 20 Years Old | 82 |
IX. Recordkeeping | 83 |
A. General Recordkeeping Requirements for Employees | 83 |
B. Records Required for Hospital Employees Working a 7(j) Work Period | 85 |
C. Records Required for Employees Working a 7(b) Work Period | 85 |
D. DOL Posting Requirements | 86 |
E. Preservation of Records | 86 |
X. Remedies and Enforcement | 87 |
A. Statute of Limitations | 87 |
B. Damages Available to Employees | 87 |
C. Immunity From Suits by Private Persons | 88 |
XI. Table of Cases | 90 |
Additional information
Weight | 0.625 lbs |
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Dimensions | 10 × 6 × 0.5 in |
Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, UC Berkeley
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