Category Archives: Labor and Employment
Does The National Labor Relations Act Cover Graduate Student Assistants?
For quite awhile now, graduate student teaching assistants across the country have argued that they should be considered employees, and not students, for the purposes of being covered by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Indeed, for years, graduate students have attempted to organize, and have argued that they should be entitled to collective… Read More »
Misclassified as Exempt: Unpaid Wages for Employees Wrongfully Classified as Exempt Employees under the Law
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) establishes nationwide minimum wage and overtime rules for employers. In general, an employee is entitled to be paid at least the minimum wage and receive overtime pay if he or she works more than 40 hours in a given pay period. But the FLSA also classifies certain employees… Read More »
My Employer Makes Me Work Through Lunch Breaks or Automatically Deducts Lunch Breaks from My Paycheck: Is This Legal? (Unpaid Wages Under Florida Law)
While Florida is not a state that requires an employer to give employees rest or meal breaks, employees can still be wrongfully unpaid for a rest or meal break if they are given one. Commonly in Florida, employees are given lunch “breaks” – only to be told that they need to still answer the… Read More »
Are you Misclassified as an Independent Contractor? Understanding Worker Classification in Florida
In the age of the gig economy (freelance work), it can be more difficult for workers to know if they should be classified as an “employee” or as an “independent contractor.” This is far more than a semantic difference — employees have certain rights under federal and state labor laws that independent contractors do… Read More »
What Constitutes “Interfering” with an Employee’s Right to Medical Leave?
Florida employers should exercise great care when drafting employee handbooks and training managers to respect the legal rights of workers. This includes a wide range of federal and state civil rights laws, such as the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). This law affords employees the right to take a certain amount of unpaid… Read More »
Unpaid Overtime: When Are You Entitled to Get Overtime Pay at Your Florida Job?
Overtime can be tricky. Do you get overtime based on how many hours you work in a week or in a day? What if you work hours off the clock? Commonly, the confusion stems as overtime laws can vary from state to state and like any attorney may tell you when you ask about… Read More »
Complaints in the Workplace: When Should an Employer Conduct a Workplace Investigation?
If you are an employer who has received a complaint from an employee, you likely have an obligation under the law to conduct a prompt and thorough investigation of claims of these claims as soon as possible. In this article, we use the term “employer” to mean Human Resources or senior management. For example,… Read More »
How FMLA May Affect “No-Fault” Attendance Policies
Dealing with absenteeism is a major challenge for any employer – causing financial losses and slowdowns. Some business have tried to combat these concerns by instituting “no-fault” attendance policies. In its basic form, such policies assign workers “points” for unexcused absences. When an employee reaches a certain threshold number of points, the employer will… Read More »
Traveling Abroad for Work: Do U.S. Laws Apply to Employees Working Abroad?
Florida is a major hub for international business and it is not uncommon for many U.S. citizen employees to be working outside of the country for a U.S. controlled employer. This includes employees working for foreign subsidiaries controlled by a U.S. Employer. The good news is that most major U.S. anti-discrimination laws still protect… Read More »
EEOC Challenges “Inflexible” Leave Policies
It is advisable for any employer to have written policies governing employee leave and attendance. But, not just any policy will do. In drafting these policies, it is imperative to ensure that they are written to comply with a host of applicable federal, state, and local laws. Employers must be especially cautious before adopting… Read More »