How Many Times Will We Talk About the FLSA This Year? 4.1 million?

Another announced class action settlement for wage and hour violations. Law.com has the story on Aydin Corp.'s 4.1 million dollar settlement involving 83 employees classified as exempt, who successfully claimed overtime because of the company's practice of docking them for when they worked less than 40 hours in a week. Although much discussed several years ago, some companies still fall afoul of the relatively complicated rules on when it is permissible to dock exempt employees. Basic rule of thumb: when you start to dock exempt employees, stop; before proceeding, check and make sure it comes within the acceptable rules. Failure to do so can cost you much more than just overtime for the one employee, since in the worst case, it could destroy the validity of your exemption for all employees in that class.