Labor Laws for Employers
Introduction:
This special report covers labor laws for the following areas:
...Family medical leave
...Employment eligibility
...State payday requirements
...State meal period requirements
...Overtime Pay
...Teen Labor Laws - Federal
...Teen Labor Laws - State
The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993
Covered employers (http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/ESA/Title_29/Part_825/29CFR825.104.htm) must grant an eligible employee (http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/ESA/Title_29/Part_825/29CFR825.110.htm) up to a total of 12 workweeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period for one or more of the following reasons:
Citizens and nationals of the U.S. are automatically eligible for employment but they must present proof of employment eligibility and identity and complete an Employment Eligibility Verification form (Form I-9), see http://uscis.gov/graphics/formsfee/forms/i-9.htm
The federal Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, is used by employers as a record of their basis for determining eligibility of an employee to work in the United States. The form is kept by the employer and made available for inspection by officials of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Department of Labor and the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration Related Unfair Employment Practices.
Citizens of the U.S. include persons born in Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Nationals of the U.S. include persons born in American Samoa, including Swains Island.
Form I-9 is completed only for people actually hired. For purposes of the I-9 rules, a person is "hired" when he or she begins to work for wages or other compensation; remuneration is anything of value given in exchange for labor or services rendered by an employee, including food and lodging.
An employee who fails to produce the required document(s), or a receipt for a replacement document(s) (in the case of lost, stolen or destroyed documents), within three (3) business days of the date employment begins may be fired. However, these practices must be uniformly applied to all employees. If an employee has presented a receipt for a replacement document(s), he or she must produce the actual document(s) within 90 days of the date employment begins.
An employer must examine the document(s) and, if they reasonably appear on their face to be genuine and relate to the person presenting them, you must accept them. To do otherwise could be an unfair immigration-related employment practice. If a document does not reasonably appear on its face to be genuine and to relate to the person presenting it, you must not accept it. Employees must present original documents. Photocopies are not acceptable; the only exception is an employee may present a certified copy of a birth certificate.
You cannot be charged with a verification violation if a Form I-9 is properly completed and the BICE discovers that the employee is not actually authorized to work. However, such employee cannot continue to be employed. What is my responsibility concerning the authenticity of document(s) presented to me?
State Payday Requirements: http://www.dol.gov/esa/programs/whd/state/payday.htm
State Meal Period Requirements: http://www.dol.gov/esa/programs/whd/state/meal.htm
Labor Laws: Overtime Pay
The new overtime FairPAY Rules are effective August 23, 2004
Under these new rules from the federal department of labor (DOL):
Almost All Employees Who Make Less Than $455 A Week ($23,660 A Year)
Are Eligible For Overtime Pay.
The new rule applies whether the employee is blue collar or white collar, or whether they supervise people of not. The exception for this rule is teachers, doctors and lawyers. They do not get overtime, no matter what they are paid.
Union workers covered by contracts will not be affected by the change.
IMPACT ON THE RESTAURANT INDUSTRY
Low-level and mid-level managers at restaurants who earn less than $23,660 a year will be newly eligible. However, employers can avoid paying them overtime by raising their salaries to the threshold amount.
Eighteen states — including Wisconsin, New Jersey, Oregon and Kentucky — have separate state laws protecting overtime eligibility. In most, employers must apply whichever regulation is more favorable to the employee. Legislative action is required in some states to make changes. Illinois became the first state to reject the new overtime rules.
The 474-page rules change means that millions of low-wage workers will get overtime and millions of others may lose it. The Labor Department states that the law affects only salaried workers; hourly workers should continue to receive overtime.
There is plenty of confusion with the DOL rules. Here are some important rules to know:
Labor Laws: Teens
(Effective February 14, 2005)
NOTICE: Under 14 Years of Age may NOT be employed by food service establishments.
18 Years of Age: Not subject to the federal youth employment provisions.
16 & 17 Years of Age: May be employed for unlimited hours in any occupation other than those declared hazardous such as hazardous power-driven meat processing machines (meat slicers, meat saws, patty forming machines, meat grinders, and meat choppers), commercial mixers and certain power-driven bakery machines. Also, they are not permitted to operate, feed, set-up, adjust, repair, or clean any of these machines.
17-year-olds, who meet certain specific requirements, may drive automobiles and trucks that do not exceed 6,000 pounds gross vehicle weight for limited amounts of time. They are prohibited from making time sensitive deliveries (such as pizza deliveries or other trips where time is of essence) and from driving at night. See http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/whdfs34.htm.
14 & 15 Years of Age: Fourteen- and 15- year-olds may be employed in restaurants and quick-service establishments outside school hours in a variety of jobs for limited periods of time and under specified conditions.
Hours Standards for 14- and 15-Year-Olds
Occupations Standards for 14- and 15-Year-Olds
Child Labor Regulation No. 3, 29 CFR Part 570, Subpart C, limits the hours and the times of day that 14- and 15-year-olds may work:
STATE YOUTH LABOR LAWS
Introduction:
This special report covers labor laws for the following areas:
...Family medical leave
...Employment eligibility
...State payday requirements
...State meal period requirements
...Overtime Pay
...Teen Labor Laws - Federal
...Teen Labor Laws - State
The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993
Covered employers (http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/ESA/Title_29/Part_825/29CFR825.104.htm) must grant an eligible employee (http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/ESA/Title_29/Part_825/29CFR825.110.htm) up to a total of 12 workweeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period for one or more of the following reasons:
- for the birth and care of the newborn child of the employee;
- for placement with the employee of a son or daughter for adoption or foster care;
- to care for an immediate family member (spouse, child, or parent) with a serious health condition; or
- to take medical leave when the employee is unable to work because of a serious health condition.
Citizens and nationals of the U.S. are automatically eligible for employment but they must present proof of employment eligibility and identity and complete an Employment Eligibility Verification form (Form I-9), see http://uscis.gov/graphics/formsfee/forms/i-9.htm
The federal Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, is used by employers as a record of their basis for determining eligibility of an employee to work in the United States. The form is kept by the employer and made available for inspection by officials of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Department of Labor and the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration Related Unfair Employment Practices.
Citizens of the U.S. include persons born in Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Nationals of the U.S. include persons born in American Samoa, including Swains Island.
Form I-9 is completed only for people actually hired. For purposes of the I-9 rules, a person is "hired" when he or she begins to work for wages or other compensation; remuneration is anything of value given in exchange for labor or services rendered by an employee, including food and lodging.
An employee who fails to produce the required document(s), or a receipt for a replacement document(s) (in the case of lost, stolen or destroyed documents), within three (3) business days of the date employment begins may be fired. However, these practices must be uniformly applied to all employees. If an employee has presented a receipt for a replacement document(s), he or she must produce the actual document(s) within 90 days of the date employment begins.
An employer must examine the document(s) and, if they reasonably appear on their face to be genuine and relate to the person presenting them, you must accept them. To do otherwise could be an unfair immigration-related employment practice. If a document does not reasonably appear on its face to be genuine and to relate to the person presenting it, you must not accept it. Employees must present original documents. Photocopies are not acceptable; the only exception is an employee may present a certified copy of a birth certificate.
You cannot be charged with a verification violation if a Form I-9 is properly completed and the BICE discovers that the employee is not actually authorized to work. However, such employee cannot continue to be employed. What is my responsibility concerning the authenticity of document(s) presented to me?
State Payday Requirements: http://www.dol.gov/esa/programs/whd/state/payday.htm
State Meal Period Requirements: http://www.dol.gov/esa/programs/whd/state/meal.htm
Labor Laws: Overtime Pay
The new overtime FairPAY Rules are effective August 23, 2004
Under these new rules from the federal department of labor (DOL):
Almost All Employees Who Make Less Than $455 A Week ($23,660 A Year)
Are Eligible For Overtime Pay.
The new rule applies whether the employee is blue collar or white collar, or whether they supervise people of not. The exception for this rule is teachers, doctors and lawyers. They do not get overtime, no matter what they are paid.
Union workers covered by contracts will not be affected by the change.
IMPACT ON THE RESTAURANT INDUSTRY
Low-level and mid-level managers at restaurants who earn less than $23,660 a year will be newly eligible. However, employers can avoid paying them overtime by raising their salaries to the threshold amount.
Eighteen states — including Wisconsin, New Jersey, Oregon and Kentucky — have separate state laws protecting overtime eligibility. In most, employers must apply whichever regulation is more favorable to the employee. Legislative action is required in some states to make changes. Illinois became the first state to reject the new overtime rules.
The 474-page rules change means that millions of low-wage workers will get overtime and millions of others may lose it. The Labor Department states that the law affects only salaried workers; hourly workers should continue to receive overtime.
There is plenty of confusion with the DOL rules. Here are some important rules to know:
- The new benchmark allows employers to designate certain workers as administrative, executive or professional, and exempt from overtime only if they are paid at least at least $455 a week, or $23,660 a year not including bonuses or commissions.
- Any employee who earns more than $100,000 a year is not eligible for mandated overtime for any reason.
- Any employee who earns between $23,660 and $100,000 a year, and who is in most executive, professional, or administrative positions, is not eligible for overtime. This does not, however, apply to salespeople. They are still eligible. Sales staff that regularly work outside of the employer's place of business are not eligible.
- U.S. Department of Labor - Employment Standards Administration Wage and Hour Division
Labor Laws: Teens
(Effective February 14, 2005)
NOTICE: Under 14 Years of Age may NOT be employed by food service establishments.
18 Years of Age: Not subject to the federal youth employment provisions.
16 & 17 Years of Age: May be employed for unlimited hours in any occupation other than those declared hazardous such as hazardous power-driven meat processing machines (meat slicers, meat saws, patty forming machines, meat grinders, and meat choppers), commercial mixers and certain power-driven bakery machines. Also, they are not permitted to operate, feed, set-up, adjust, repair, or clean any of these machines.
17-year-olds, who meet certain specific requirements, may drive automobiles and trucks that do not exceed 6,000 pounds gross vehicle weight for limited amounts of time. They are prohibited from making time sensitive deliveries (such as pizza deliveries or other trips where time is of essence) and from driving at night. See http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/whdfs34.htm.
14 & 15 Years of Age: Fourteen- and 15- year-olds may be employed in restaurants and quick-service establishments outside school hours in a variety of jobs for limited periods of time and under specified conditions.
Hours Standards for 14- and 15-Year-Olds
Occupations Standards for 14- and 15-Year-Olds
Child Labor Regulation No. 3, 29 CFR Part 570, Subpart C, limits the hours and the times of day that 14- and 15-year-olds may work:
- outside school hours;
- no more than 3 hours on a school day, including Fridays;
- no more than 8 hours on a nonschool day;
- no more than 18 hours during a week when school is in session;
- no more than 40 hours during a week when school is not in session;
- between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. - except between June 1 and Labor day when the evening hour is extended to 9 p.m.
- May not cook over open flames
- May not operate NIEOC boilers, rotisseries, pressure cookers or fryolators
- May not perform any baking activities.
- May not operate, maintain, or repair power driven machines including food slicers, processors, or mixers.
- May not operate power lawn equipment, work in freezers or meat coolers, or load or unload goods from trucks or conveyors.
- May not operate microwave ovens having capacity to warm above 140ºF.
- May not cook with deep fat fryers unless equipped with devices that automatically raise and lower the "baskets" into and out of the hot grease of oil.
- May perform cashiering, table service and "busing," and clean up work, including the use of vacuum cleaners and floor waxers.
- May work in preparing food and beverages, including the operation of devices such as dishwashers, toasters, milk shake blenders, warming lamps, and coffee grinders.
- May perform limited cooking duties using electric or gas grills (no open flames).
- May dispense food from cafeteria lines and steam tables
- May clean kitchen surfaces and non-power-driven equipment and dispose of cooking oil, but only when the temperature of the surface and oils do not exceed 100º F.
STATE YOUTH LABOR LAWS
- State Teen Labor Laws: All states have their own youth employment provisions and when state and federal rules differ, employers are held to the stricter standards. Visit the Youth Rules Website to learn about your state's provisions.
