Free Custom «Fair Labor Standards Act» Essay Paper

To begin with, Fair Labor Standards Act abbreviated FLSA when mentioned or rather used in any business context, it brings about the protection of employees under the law. As a matter of fact, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) establishes guidelines related to minimum wage, overtime pay, record-keeping, and child labor. Altogether, it is within the provisions of this law of which it is a US federal law of 1938 that the minimum wages of the employees are set, overtime pay, record-keeping, and child labor (Whittaker, 2003).In line with this, there is the 1995 Auto Corporation based in central Colorado which is a family-run manufacturing business. The company manufactures emergency lighting systems for first-responder vehicles (police cars, ambulances, fire trucks) in the emergency services industry. Currently, the organization consists of a production facility which currently has 88 unionized production employees, and two administration offices which have 22 non-union employees.1995 Auto Corp. is in the process of opening a production facility in Toledo, Ohio which will have 31 non-union employees. 1995 Auto Corp. has been operating as a sole proprietorship by R. Shaffer for 18 months. Having provided a brief background of 1995 Auto Corporation, it is important to bring into view the fact that the company has some problems In regard to labor and employment law. As the HR legal consultant contracted to review all HR policies, I intent to solve the existing management practices in order to minimize the risk of unfair labor practice charges which can lead to litigation and investigations and hearings with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).Interestingly enough, there are some issues of concern that need to be addressed in regard to practices of 1995 Auto Corp. As such, I have noted that 1995 Auto Corp. has classified many of its non-production positions as "exempt". This means that the employees have no right under FLSA to be paid on overtime. Following this point, I am concerned with legal exposure, and union challenges that may result from inaccurate classifications, along with poor tracking of hours worked for the purpose of paying overtime. In this regard, it is important to bring into the context the key components of the FLSA overtime requirements, considering the legal distinction between "exempt" and "non-exempt" employees (Whittaker, 2003).Principally, FLSA has provided guidelines on how to deal with issues of overtime. However, 1995 Auto Corp. seems to have not yet assimilated the whole issue. It is within the provisos of FLSA that the overtime has been explained.In this sense, the Act requires that most workers receive overtime pay at one and half times the employee's regular pay rate for all hours worked over 40 hours in a seven day week. Along with this, the employees should be paid the federal minimum wage just as FLSA requires. In correspondence to overtime, it should be established whether a position that has been classified as overtime eligible or exempt is in compliance with the provisions of FLSA. Again in this context, the requirements of the payments of overtime are defined by FLSA among other such related aspects of overtime issue. Legal distinction between "exempt" and "non-exempt" employees has been in a way violated (Business & Legal Reports, Inc., 2006). Before digging too much into the state of affairs in the company regarding overtime, it is important to bring into context the legal definitions of "exempt" and "non-exempt". In this case, the term exempt when used brings about the meaning that such employees do not have to be paid overtime even when they have worked more than 40 hours a week. Instead such employees are paid salaries.Following this legal definition, FLSA provides that the members of this class have distinct responsibilities in the organization. They consist of those employees who hold a bona fide executive, administrative, or professional position.

 

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More to this point, they cover other employees such as the ones in the capacity of academic administrative personnel among others. On the other hand, the non-exempt employees in relation to overtime payment are those employees who are entitled to an overtime payment as it is required within the dictates of FLSA (Business & Legal Reports, Inc., 2006). If someone is non-exempted from FLSA it means that he or she is supposed to be paid once he works for more than 40 hours a week. It is of great importance to note that the overtime in this context means work that has been done hourly by the employees beyond the limits of the regular work hours per week. This is to suggest that for any kind of work that is done by an hourly worker is considered as overtime. So to articulate, overtime compensation is made provision of under the federal Fair Labor Standard Act of 1938.Notably, 1995 Auto Corp. has classified most of its non-production positions as "exempt." This is to suggest that the non-production employees who are in other words supposed to be "non-exempt" have been unfairly treated by being exempted when the kind of employees highlighted are the ones that are supposed to be exempted instead. As a matter of fact, I am concerned of the factor that 1995 Auto Corp.'s ability to classify employees as "exempt" or "non-exempt" in relation to the payment of overtime. In this connection, the 1995 Auto Corp.'s ability has been presented as one of the unfair treatment of the non-production positions.Under the requirements of FLSA, not all the employees should be exempted apart from those that are in the most part doing more of management roles. By exempting the non-production positions, it means that, such individuals have not been treated according to the law and as such, they are not protected under it. This also suggests that the company may be playing to avoid paying more money when people work overtime at the same time making them to overwork without payment (Sciotti, 2004). If this is not well handled, it may lead to court investigations and hearings regarding overtime payment a case that can really cost the company as well as its future if it may be said. Above and beyond, the point at which the overtime is paid with regard to hours worked is when one has worked over 40 hours a work. This means that any hour that the employee works above the 40 hours, he or she is entitled to receive one and half times what he or she is paid in the regular hours.In consistent with this, it is within the aspirations of 1995 Auto Corp. that their employees work overtime on regular basis. In order to achieve this aspiration or in short fulfill the plans, then, there are several legal set of guidelines that stands out to limit the company's ability to mandate or take away overtime for employees. In reality, clear guidelines as to when a salaried employee may earn overtime must be established as it can limit the company's ability to mandate or take away overtime.

Accordingly, the company may be limited to mandate or take away overtime for employees by failing to meet the FLSA requirements of the amount they should be paid, how they are paid and the kind of work they carry out. Another point that can limit 1995 Auto Corp. from mandating or taking away overtime can be terraced back to the legal definitions of the exempt and non-exempt employee as they have exempted many of which this denies the employees right f protection by FLSA (Sciotti, 2004). This is to suggest that the company may be legally limited to offer overtime if it does not adhere to the FLSA requirements. This is for the reason that it is illegal to pay overtime to people like managers as those that are supposed to be exempt.As a matter of fact, strategies that I would recommend for 1995 Auto Corp. in order to classify employees as" exempt" or "non exempt" would involve a good evaluation of the FLSA law and provisos . The classification would be in terms of how much it is paid, how it is paid and how to pay it. Therefore, the owner can accurately classify the employees as "exempt" or "non-exempt if and only if, a review of the FLSA is done, then the classification done based on the legal provisos (Business & Legal Reports, Inc., 2006).In spite of the processes that are involved in making of a strategy that can solve the problem of having most of exempt employees from the non-production, it is important to take note that there is a process the company should follow to ensure job descriptions fit into its business strategy while adhering to FLSA and Department of Labor classification guidelines. So to speak, the department of labor classification guidelines requires that the job descriptions of the company cover the issue of exemption and non-exemption employees of which this is a core coverage and reason for FLSA (Business & Legal Reports, Inc., 2006).As such, the job descriptions should be in line with the requirements of FLSA. Therefore, before embarking on classification, 1995 Auto Corp. should first review the provisions of the FLSA and make sure that any classification is done on its basis along with ensuring that the legal definitions of exempt and non-exempt are taken into consideration (Baldwin, 1996). This would help the company to make an informed classification that would prevent it from getting into legal constraints as well as make it to meet its objectives in an exceptional and competitive manner. Generally, FLSA and Department of Labor classification guidelines should be considered while formulating a job description since it will make the company avoid court issues that would have otherwise led to more problems if this is not done.Surprisingly, this should be carried out by the human resource whose duties are being carried by a production operating manager who is limited in human resource knowledge. In this case, 1995 Auto Corp. should get a human resource manager apt in this skill to accomplish the duty of job descriptions that are in line with FLSA and Department of Labor classification guidelines (Sciotti, 2004).. Therefore the company should seek to ensure that the problem of classification is solved by just reviewing the stipulations of the appropriate policy.A point worth noting is that there is set minimum wage that should be paid to the employees of which failure to meet this point would lead to legal ramifications. From the broader point of view, overtime pay is meant to be one and half times the one paid during regular hours of work. If this is not adhered to, legal charges may be taken against the organization as this can best be described as an unfair terms of payment (Barbeito, 2004). The right classification in terms of exemption and non- exemption is required in order to avoid the same. In addition, record-keeping of a company is important as it regards the policies of the Human resource management as it will help to provide a point of reference and guidance as well.Likewise, the legal issues surrounding child labor are that children are protected from exploitation carried out on them by being overworked. Therefore under this stipulation, the work that a child should do is defined as well as the hours of working altogether. No discrimination in this case should be carried out but rather farness should prevail along with the fact that the rights of children are protected (Sciotti, 2004). Legal issues of minimum wage, overtime pay, record-keeping, and child labor for the Toledo, Ohio facility may pose a new challenge as Ohio and Toledo are new locations.Having in mind the fact that Toledo, Ohio facility is a new location with all employees as non-union, the Human resource should ensure that FLSA rules and guidelines are adhered to along with ensuring that diversity is work place is encouraged. It is also important to have a review of the provisions of FLSA while insuring job descriptions (Barbeito, 2004). Issues of exemption and non-exemption should be handled with care ensuring that none of the employees is exploited by working overtime without being paid. This should also involve the factors of who should be exempted and those who should not without any form of corruption and biasness.On the other hand, the other employees of 1995 Auto Corp. should be balanced and the issue of many of its non-production positions being "exempt" corrected. Fundamentally, union challenges that may result from inaccurate classifications, along with poor tracking of hours worked for the purpose of paying overtime can be resolved by revising the classification while equipped with the right knowledge and skill of Human resource in this case. At the same time, for fairness in workplace to be realized, the tracking of the hours worked to be paid as overtime should be taken care with fairness as the FLSA dictates (Baldwin, 1996). Putting in mind that the operation in Toledo is a new one, there are possible Human Resource policy differences. As such, Toledo has non-union employees and therefore, the HR is required to ensure that the employees integrate in the organization. As such, more training is needed for employees in Toledo along with a more intensive work needed to define the terms of exemption and non-exemption of employees. By the mere fact that all the employees in Toledo are new, the HR may be challenged in his or her job as the productivity may be limited due to the fact that all the members are non-union and know little about unionization.