Vision Payroll

The US Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued Administrator signed Opinion Letter FLSA 2009-13. Although Opinion Letters only apply to the exact set of facts and circumstances presented in each case, they are a valuable aid in understanding current interpretations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

In this Opinion Letter, the DOL ruled that employees who take “web-based prerequisite classes at home in preparation for a voluntary job-related training class” must be compensated for the time spent. In this case, technicians could volunteer to take a training class during regular working hours to learn new and advanced features on Tellabs 5500 equipment. Tellabs required that the technicians, who did not work for Tellabs, complete four prerequisite classes, each lasting approximately four hours. These classes would be completed at home on the technicians own time.

There are four criteria to determine if training programs and similar activities be treated as compensable time:

1. Attendance is outside of the employee’s regular working hours;
2. Attendance is in fact voluntary;
3. The course, lecture, or meeting is not directly related to the employee’s job; and
4. The employee does not perform any productive work during such attendance.

Since criterion 3. is not met, the time spent by the technicians on the pre-requisite classes must be compensated by the employer, even though the other three criteria were met.

State laws may provide rules that are more beneficial to the employee and must be followed. Contact Vision Payroll if you have questions about this Opinion Letter.

The US Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued Administrator signed Opinion Letter FLSA 2009-12. Although Opinion Letters only apply to the exact set of facts and circumstances presented in each case, they are a valuable aid in understanding current interpretations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

In this Opinion Letter, the DOL confirmed that barbacks who receive tips from the bartenders they support qualify as tipped employees and therefore are eligible for tip credits. A barback is described as an assistant to the bartender who works the same hours as a bartender and whose primary duty is to support the bartender.

In this case, the barbacks did not directly receive tips from customers but from the bartenders they supported. The tips were more than $30 per month. Tip splitting or pooling is allowed under the FLSA in certain circumstances and the tips are allocated to the employee who retains them. Since the barbacks are “engaged in an occupation in which [they] customarily and regularly [receive] more than $30 a month in tips” they qualify as “tipped employees”.

State laws may provide rules that are more beneficial to the employee and must be followed. Contact Vision Payroll if you have questions about this Opinion Letter.

The US Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued Administrator signed Opinion Letter FLSA 2009-11. Although Opinion Letters only apply to the exact set of facts and circumstances presented in each case, they are a valuable aid in understanding current interpretations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

In this Opinion Letter, the DOL concluded that a concessionaire at a privately-owned recreational establishment did not qualify as a recreational establishment. A recreational establishment is an “establishment that is an amusement or recreational establishment, organized camp, or religious or  non-profit educational conference center that either ‘does not operate for more than seven months in any calendar year,’ or, ‘during the preceding calendar year,’ has ‘average receipts for any six months of such year [of] not more than 33 1/3 per centum of its average receipts for the other six months of such year.’” Although a restaurant may qualify as a recreational establishment if the host establishment qualifies and the acts with the concessionaire as a single establishment, in this case the entities were separate and distinct.

State laws may provide rules that are more beneficial to the employee and must be followed. Contact Vision Payroll if you have questions about this Opinion Letter.

According to the US Department of Labor, in the week ending July 18, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 554,000, an increase of 30,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 524,000. The 4-week moving average was 566,000, a decrease of 19,000 from the previous week’s revised average of 585,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 4.7% for the week ending July 11, unchanged from the prior week’s unrevised rate of 4.7%.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending July 11 was 6,225,000, a decrease of 88,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 6,313,000. The 4-week moving average was 6,541,500, a decrease of 132,500 from the preceding week’s revised average of 6,674,000.

The fiscal year-to-date average for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment for all programs is 5.474 million.

The US Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued Administrator signed Opinion Letter FLSA2009-10. Although Opinion Letters only apply to the exact set of facts and circumstances presented in each case, they are a valuable aid in understanding current interpretations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Because the letter was apparently never mailed after it was signed, the DOL under new Secretary Hilda L. Solis has decided to withdraw the letter for further consideration. Therefore, this letter may not be relied upon as a statement of agency policy. It is possible that a different conclusion may be reached when the Opinion Letter is reissued.

In this Opinion Letter, the DOL confirmed that community members who coach athletic teams qualify as teachers under the FLSA. Although a teaching certificate indicates that an employee qualifies for the exemption, there is no requirement that a teacher possess a certificate to qualify. Further, “there is no minimum education or academic degree required” for the exemption. Coaches qualify as teachers if their primary duty is “teaching and imparting knowledge to students in an educational establishment.” Since these community members apparently do not provide other services to the school district and there is no salary requirement for teachers under the FLSA, the coaches qualify and are exempt from minimum wage and overtime requirements.

State laws may provide rules that are more beneficial to the employee and must be followed. The DOL may come to a different conclusion when it reissues the Opinion Letter after further consideration. Contact Vision Payroll if you have questions about this Opinion Letter.

The US Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued Administrator signed Opinion Letter FLSA2009-9. Although Opinion Letters only apply to the exact set of facts and circumstances presented in each case, they are a valuable aid in understanding current interpretations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Because the letter was apparently never mailed after it was signed, the DOL under new Secretary Hilda L. Solis has decided to withdraw the letter for further consideration. Therefore, this letter may not be relied upon as a statement of agency policy. It is possible that a different conclusion may be reached when the Opinion Letter is reissued.

In this Opinion Letter, the DOL ruled that civilian helicopter pilots employed by the Division of State Police do not qualify as exempt employees under the FLSA. The pilots are not executive employees since “their primary duty is not managing the department or subdivision in which they are employed.” They are not administrative employees since piloting a helicopter is not “office or non-manual” work. The DOL has long held that pilots do not qualify under learned professional exemption since their primary duty does not have any “advanced knowledge that must be customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction.”

State laws may provide rules that are more beneficial to the employee and must be followed. The DOL may come to a different conclusion when it reissues the Opinion Letter after further consideration. Contact Vision Payroll if you have questions about this Opinion Letter.

The US Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued Administrator signed Opinion Letter FLSA2009-8. Although Opinion Letters only apply to the exact set of facts and circumstances presented in each case, they are a valuable aid in understanding current interpretations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Because the letter was apparently never mailed after it was signed, the DOL under new Secretary Hilda L. Solis has decided to withdraw the letter for further consideration. Therefore, this letter may not be relied upon as a statement of agency policy. It is possible that a different conclusion may be reached when the Opinion Letter is reissued.

In this Opinion Letter, the DOL reviews the pay policy of a company that engages primarily in “drain cleaning and other minor plumbing repair and replacement services involving such items as water heaters, disposals, and toilets.” Eighty to ninety percent of the company’s revenues are from retail sales or services to private homeowners. The technicians receive pay based on twenty-three percent of the revenues attributable to their labor and five percent of the revenue attributable to their parts sales. They also receive a monthly bonus that is dependent on monthly sales. Their pay is guaranteed to be more than 150% of the minimum wage and is generally three to six times the minimum wage.

The DOL ruled that “because more than seventy-five percent of its annual dollar volume of goods and services it not for resale”, it qualifies as a “retail or service establishment”. Employees of such establishments are exempt from minimum wage if:

1. The regular rate of pay of such employee is in excess of one and one-half times the minimum wage, and
2. More than half of the employee’s compensation for a representative period (not less than one month) represents commissions on goods and services.

Since the employees apparently qualify under these standards, they are exempt from the minimum wage laws.

State laws may provide rules that are more beneficial to the employee and must be followed. The DOL may come to a different conclusion when it reissues the Opinion Letter after further consideration. Contact Vision Payroll if you have questions about this Opinion Letter.

According to the US Department of Labor, in the week ending July 11, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 522,000, a decrease of 47,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 569,000. The 4-week moving average was 584,500, a decrease of 22,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 607,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 4.7% for the week ending July 4, a decrease of 0.5 percentage points from the prior week’s revised rate of 5.2%.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending July 4 was 6,273,000, a decrease of 642,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 6,915,000. The 4-week moving average was 6,666,750, a decrease of 110,250 from the preceding week’s revised average of 6,777,000.

The fiscal year-to-date average for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment for all programs is 5.449 million.

According to the US Department of Labor, in the week ending July 4, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 565,000, a decrease of 52,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 617,000. The 4-week moving average was 606,000, a decrease of 10,000 from the previous week’s revised average of 616,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 5.1% for the week ending June 27, an increase of 0.1 percentage points from the prior week’s unrevised rate of 5.0%.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending June 27 was 6,883,000, an increase of 159,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 6,724,000. The 4-week moving average was 6,769,000, an increase of 12,000 from the preceding week’s revised average of 6,757,000.

The fiscal year-to-date average for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment for all programs is 5.421 million.

According to the US Department of Labor, in the week ending June 27, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 614,000, a decrease of 16,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 630,000. The 4-week moving average was 615,250, a decrease of 2,750 from the previous week’s revised average of 618,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 5.0% for the week ending June 20, a decrease of 0.1 percentage points from the prior week’s revised rate of 5.1%.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending June 20 was 6,702,000, a decrease of 53,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 6,755,000. The 4-week moving average was 6,751,500, a decrease of 13,750 from the preceding week’s revised average of 6,765,250.

The fiscal year-to-date average for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment for all programs is 5.375 million.