EEOC / DOL

In a prior post I discussed the increase in EEOC cases and recent settlements. It is quite apparent that EEOC is taking a more aggressive posture with cases. One such step is the mandatory public press release regarding settlements. We’ve recently seen that with the publicity surrounding cases such as Texas Roadhouse and Bass Pro. If you go to the EEOC website, the settlement for these two cases is prominently displayed on the EEOC home page ("Texas Roadhouse Litigation" and "Bass Pro Litigation").

During my participation in a webinar recently for an Employment Law Update, some interesting questions were put to the participants. Below are the two that I feel are most significant.

Has your organization seen an increase in employee lawsuit claims this year? The response was 42% Yes, 30% No and 28% Unknown.

Do you consider Wage & Hour to be the number one employment law risk facing your organization this year? 48% Yes, 52% No.

As employers we are going to see heightened enforcement by the DOL in FY 2012. DOL has requested a budget of $240 million for the wage and hour division in 2012. That is an increase of $13.3M and 95 investigators over 2010 and 2011 levels. Two interesting items from the DOL FY 2012 Budget in Brief:

1. To ensure equal opportunity for people who work for organizations that have federal contracts, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) will ensure compliance with affirmative action requirements, target systemic discrimination, and prioritize the elimination of discrimination against veterans and individuals with disabilities.

2. In FY 2012, the Department will redouble its efforts to combat worker misclassification by investing $46 million for a multi-agency initiative of OFFCP, the Wage and Hour Division, OSHA, the Office of the Solicitor, and the Employment and Training Administration, which will fund state grants that address worker misclassification within the context of the unemployment insurance program.This initiative will help level the playing field for employers who abide by the law and provide employees with their rightful pay and benefits.

Misclassification of employees continues to be a hotbed of litigation and the 2012 legal changes reflected in federal law will continue to fuel concerns with employers. Keep your eyes on legislation introduced into the U.S. Senate in November. This legislation could update FLSA treatment of computer employee exemptions (see Section 13(a)(17) of the FLSA).

Looking for more information on the Wage and Hour 2012 budget? Go here:
http://www.dol.gov/dol/budget/2012/PDF/CBJ-2012-V2-03.pdf