Make sure you know the overtime pay rules

“The number of small businesses facing overtime lawsuits has exploded.”

– Fortune magazine

The recent rewrite of federal overtime laws was supposed to make it easier for you to avoid the many lawsuits and fines arising from misclassification of employees’ overtime status. But as even a top Labor Department official recently admitted, “We thought [the new regulation] would fix that. It really hasn’t.”

The result: more and more classification mistakes by employers like you … and an explosion of lawsuits and fines.  A Texas food company is paying $1.56 million to 570 current and former employees … a Las Vegas firm has been fined $1.2 million … and a small business in Houston got sued for $1.1 million, just to name a few.

If you’re like most employers, your payroll is strewn with misclassified employees – ticking time bombs that could cost you a fortune – as the Labor Department cracks down on overtime law violations even for well-meaning companies like physician medical practices and other healthcare entities.