Wage & Hour Compliance: A DOL Update and Ways to Avoid Common Overtime Liability Landmines

2021 Annual Conference & Expo
​​​​​​​Attendees will learn what employers need to know so that they can spot and navigate through FLSA compliance issues.

Now that the dust has settled since the election, the DOL and Congress are updating their wage and hour agendas and undertaking new initiatives through new opinion letters, regulations and laws. The courts are also chiming-in on the legality of recent initiatives. Employers are also grappling with conforming to this changing landscape and adapting to the post-COVID culture of workplace management, including remote work issues. Along with adapting to what's new, employers are discovering that the FLSA still presents ongoing challenges with respect to determining who's exempt vs. non-exempt, which hours count for determining overtime pay eligibility, and even how to calculate the regular rate of pay for overtime purposes. These issues will be discussed and explored during this highly interactive session, with the goal being that employers will lessen their chances of incurring avoidable and inadvertent, but still potentially very expensive, FLSA compliance mistakes.

Learning Objectives:

  • Discuss the latest trends in the DOL's overtime enforcement priorities and approaches, the latest on DOL compliance and regulatory initiatives (particularly in light of the recent election outcomes and issues resulting from adapting to the COVID crisis), as well as what's on the Congressional wage and hour agenda.
  • Discover how employers may be vulnerable to wage and hour litigation and techniques to help avoid litigation or limit or eliminate exposure in the face of litigation or DOL audits.
  • Hear the major problems employers regularly face with respect to misclassifying employees as exempt from overtime pay, as well as techniques for analyzing jobs so that employees are properly classified as exempt vs. non-exempt.
  • Receive insight on how employers too often become liable for miscounting time worked for overtime pay calculation purposes, and how to avoid such practices in your workplace.
  • Gain an appreciation of the nuances involved in properly calculating the regular rate of pay for overtime pay purposes, and thereby being better able to avoid making little mistakes that could cost massive amounts of unpaid overtime pay, liquidated damages and attorneys' fees.
Date(s) & Time(s): 
Saturday, September 11, 2021 - 2:30pm to 3:30pm
Presenter: 

Robert A. Boonin

Robert A.
Boonin

Robert A. Boonin is a member of the national law firm of Dykema Gossett and is based in its Ann Arbor office. Rob is an honors graduate from The University of Michigan Law School, holds a Masters in Labor and Industrial Relations from Michigan State University, and a BS in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.  Practicing law for nearly 40 years, Rob has litigated employment law matters before federal and state courts across the nation, handles all forms of union matters for employers, and regularly counsels clients on such issues as discrimination, FMLA compliance, and wage and hour law. 

Rob is a recognized leader in his field.  For instance, he is: on the Chambers USA list of top employment law attorneys; listed as a Best Lawyer in Employment Law; repeatedly recognized as one of Michigan’s “Super Lawyers”; a Fellow and a Past-President of the Litigation Counsel of America; a Past Chair of  the national Wage and Hour Defense Institute; a Past Chair of the Michigan Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law Section; and a Fellow of the distinguished American College of Labor and Employment Lawyers.  Rob also in an immediate past-chair of the American Bar Association’s Federal Labor Standards Legislation Committee (which covers FLSA matters), and serves as an Editor of the most recognized authority on the FLSA, the Bloomberg BNA legal treatise – The Fair Labor Standards Act.

 

Location: 
W317-319
Session Type: 
Concurrent Session
Competency: 
Interpersonal (Behavioral)
People (Technical)
Workplace (Technical)
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