2021 FLSA Compliance Virtual Master Class: Advanced Skills for Wage and Hour Compliance Management

January 27-28, 2021 | 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern | Virtual

Day 1 Day 2

Day 1

January 27, 2021
12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.	Federal Regulatory, Legislative, and Court Ruling Hot Spots for 2021: The Practical Impact of New Standards, Rules, and More The financial stakes are huge if your company isn’t fully compliant with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and applicable Department of Labor (DOL) regulations. It is even more crucial in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. This opening session will provide a succinct summary of: • Which states and localities have established predictive scheduling laws and which states prohibit these laws • Where state legislation banning employers from inquiring about applicants’ salary history has already gone into effect and where new legislation is expected to pass • The DOL’s final rule providing clarification on how to determine employees’ regular rate of pay and what forms of payment employers can include and exclude in the overtime pay calculation • The increased risk of liability for employers under the FLSA for collective and class actions and more • The DOL’s final rule on joint employment, which aims to ensure employers in joint employment situations, especially those in franchise arrangements, clearly understand their responsibilities to pay workers at least the federal minimum wage and overtime
1:45 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.	Correctly Classifying Employees - Navigating the Salary and Duties Tests to Determine Cost-Effectively Which Employees Should be Exempt and Nonexempt On September 22, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced a proposed rule addressing how to determine whether a worker is an employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) or an independent contractor. The proposed rule establishes an “economic reality” test to analyze whether a given worker should be classified as an independent contractor or an employee. In addition to the test, the rule provides an analysis of the two main factors that would be used in determining a worker’s classification, and three more factors to guide employers in their classification process. This session is designed to boil down the practical impact of the DOL’s proposed rule on employee classification, as well as, the overtime exemption rule. Wage and hour attorneys will walk you through what to do and how to ensure your organization is in compliance with the law. You’ll learn: • Key salary factors to consider when determining whether an employee is exempt or nonexempt, including salary level, the salary basis test, additional payments beyond an employee’s salary, and fee basis payments • Which exemptions are not subject to the salary requirements • The ins and outs of highly compensated employees • How often the DOL will update the salary level going forward and the fate of automatic updates • Cost-minimizing strategies for classifying employees • How deductions from pay enter into your analysis • How to develop a communication plan when it comes to overtime classification • How to head off concerns that going from exempt to nonexempt status is a demotion • Where the duties tests stand now that the DOL’s overtime rule is in effect • Key test factors to determine whether an employee passes the duties tests for the executive, administrative, professional, computer professional, and outside sales exemptions, as well as employees in education • Whether you should change an employee’s duties to qualify the employee for either the exempt or the nonexempt classification • How important job titles are when it comes to passing the duties tests • Why some employees labeled “managers” and “assistant managers” may be nonexempt and entitled to overtime in the DOL’s eyes • Tips for avoiding a DOL overtime audit
2:45 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.	The Ins and Outs of Calculating Overtime Overtime calculations can get tricky when employees are paid a salary but work over 40 hours, they work a different number of hours each week, or they are paid by the piece-rate method. What about fluctuating workweeks, commissions, and compensatory time? These scenarios can end up costing employers millions when they fail to correctly pay overtime. It is vitally important for employers to make confident and correct calculations. You’ll learn: • What a “workweek” is under FLSA rules • The proper timing of overtime pay • When compensatory time can be used legally • How payments on an hourly basis, on a salaried basis, and at different hourly rates differ • Key factors regarding fluctuating workweeks • Payment rules for piece-rate and day-rate employees • How commissions factor into overtime payments • The rules that apply to fire protections and law enforcement personnel • What to include when determining total compensation
3:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.	Day 1 Questions and Answers We’ll wrap up the day by giving you the opportunity to get your specific questions answered by attorneys well versed in the complexities of wage and hour compliance, with clear instructions for adjusting your practices in light of the very latest legal developments.

Day 2

January 28, 2021
12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.	Pay Equity Audits: How to Analyze and Correct Disparate Compensation Practices by Analyzing Groupings by Job Title, Job Family, Pay Grade, and Overtime Exemption Status and More Equal pay is hot—and pay discrimination claims are on the rise. In the past 2 years, more than a dozen states and several major cities have passed new, aggressive equal pay laws designed to make it easier for employees to bring (and win) pay discrimination claims. This growing “patchwork” of federal, state, and local laws poses particularly worrisome challenges, especially for multistate employers. This session will outline how to take a proactive and strategic approach when addressing the growing pay equity challenges your organization faces. You’ll learn: • How two major federal statutes prohibiting gender-based differences in pay—the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA) and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII)—could spark costly legal liability for your organization • The growing patchwork of new state and big-city equal pay laws and what they mean practically for your company • How to take advantage of the “safe harbors” under many new state equal pay laws to protect your organization from claims and liability • How to conduct a review of your company’s wage-setting practices to find and fix unexplained disparities so you can get your compensation-planning practices on the right—legal—track • How to establish the all-important privilege for your pay equity audit • How to determine groupings for analysis by job title, job family, pay grade, and overtime exemption status • Examples of “similarly situated” and “comparable” positions • Factors you must consider, including date of hire, legacy data, time in grade, and more • Running the numbers for large, medium, and small groups—when to apply regression analysis and when something else is needed • What to do if you can’t explain a pay disparity • Tips for avoiding claims of gender-based wage discrimination
1:45 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.	FLSA Timekeeping, Hours of Work, and Recordkeeping Myth-Busters: Top Pitfalls for Staying Off State DOL and Federal WHD Enforcers’ Audit Radars There is no federal law that sets out how often or in what form you must pay wages, but you have a lot of other issues to contend with. For example, how do you pay employees who work 24-hour shifts but sleep during the shifts? If an employee shows up for work early, do you have to pay the employee? What do you do with employees who forget to punch in? What about for those who travel for work after hours? This session will put to rest myths that could be exposing your company to costly liability. We’ll cover important issues such as: • Tracking time, punching in and out, rounding, and the de minimis rule • What counts as hours worked • On-call time • Meal and rest periods • Sleep time • Commuting and travel time • Waiting time • Training time • Changing clothes • Pre-/postwork time, including time spent in postshift security screenings • Charitable/civic activities • Permissible and impermissible pay deductions for nonexempt employees • Examples of when partial-day pay deductions are permitted for exempt staff • Minimum wage requirements under your state’s law(s), including examples of how tip pools/credits could land employers in hot water • Final paychecks—common pitfalls to watch out for and mistakes that could cost you under your state’s applicable law(s) • Recordkeeping
2:45 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.	Post-Pandemic Planning: Wage and Hour Issues Employers Need to Consider COVID-19 has impacted employers in unprecedented ways. Employers faced with a pandemic need to know how to manage a variety of wage and hour issues, including final paychecks, volunteering, partial workweeks, sickness and disability deductions, long-term pay reductions, and furloughs. Federal law has addressed many of the factors to consider when preparing for or working through a pandemic, as outlined below. Keep in mind that individual state laws or collective bargaining agreements may apply, as well. You’ll learn: • What happens if an employer is unable to pay employee wages • The importance for employers to understand their state laws on final paychecks • The strict laws around volunteering under the FLSA because during a pandemic, companies may fall into the legal trap of looking for assistance in the form of volunteers • How to handle the issues surrounding partial workweeks because a business closes • What to know about sickness and disability deductions, which is an area of confusion for some employers • The ins and outs of long-term pay reductions • The rules on furloughs for exempt and nonexempt employees • Whether you can ask employees to work longer hours • Whether you can ask employees to perform job functions that are different from their usual work • What you need to know about telecommuting, including whether you can require it, recordkeeping, and how to handle employees who are unable to work from home
3:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.	Day 2 Questions and Answers We’ll wrap up the day by giving you the opportunity to get your specific questions answered by attorneys well versed in the complexities of wage and hour compliance, with clear instructions for adjusting your practices in light of the very latest legal developments.

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