If you haven’t been confused about the Computer Exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) you may be the only one. The FLSA exemption tests, used to determine who must be paid overtime (nonexempt) and who doesn’t (exempt employees), have confused most of us for a long time. The FLSA was passed in 1938 and has had a hard time keeping pace with the world in the last 70 years. Positions that didn’t exist in the 1930s are particularly hard to classify, with computer jobs being especially troublesome.

We are currently in mid 2007, navigating in uncharted waters as far as the labor market of the past ten years is concerned. The economy is stalled, home prices are falling, but the stock market remains near record levels, unemployment is low and companies are experiencing talent shortages as they position themselves to compete in an ever increasing, and more competitive global marketplace. We now have neither a labor buyers or sellers market. It is eerily balanced. As a result employers are doing all they can and investing in tools and processes to attract and retain a skilled, agile, and motivated workforce.

Have you had a mother call to arrange an interview for her son? A father who wanted to negotiate pay and benefits for his daughter? How about a parent who called to complain that his child was being treated unfairly at work, that other employees are “being mean” or that your written warning was inappropriate? If you haven’t had parents calling you concerned about their kids at work, stay tuned, as you just may.

Apparently a lot of people are talking about job satisfaction or the lack thereof.

How satisfied are you with your job? As with most of us it may depend on the day. But then again you may wonder.

As a manager of staff, the surest sign that the summer season is around the corner is the increase in employee vacation requests. Depending upon how many staff you have, managing the summer vacation schedule can bring any manager to reach for the Tums. It pretty much starts in May with employees keeping a close eye on the calendar to see what weeks have already been taken by other staff as they dance the dance of waiting as long as possible to request time off but also not wanting to let ‘the good weeks’, or the week they want get taken. To me, it always seems like this employee or that employee just took a week off, how could they possibly have accrued vacation time to request another week. In contrast, I can’t remember when I last took a week off. This got me to thinking about just how much vacation time on average American workers take each year. I was surprised with what I discovered. By comparison to most every other industrialized country, American worker’s work longer and harder and vacation the least. That’s the bad news. The good news is that we get paid vacation at all.

The “bad girls” of Hollywood still, unfortunately, consume too much media attention and will undoubtedly continue to take top billing. But a couple of compensation related developments, that could affect millions of people, actually made it into the national news. Minimum Wage. After much wrangling, the first minimum wage increase in 10 years was signed into law on May 25. The federal minimum wage, currently at $5.15/hour, will rise in 3 phases to $5.85 on July 24, 2007, to $6.55 on July 24, 2008, and to $7.25 on July 24, 2009. Pay Discrimination Claims. The U.S. Supreme Court’s May 29th decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear also made the news. The decision provides protection for employers against pay discrimination actions that took place outside Title VII’s 180 day deadline for filing such claims.

In response to numerous client requests HRN has developed a cost-effective, time saving training option for small groups or individuals. On Tuesday, June 12, 2007 HRN Management Group is offering two different times to participate in an hour-long Performance Pro online training session. Content has been prepared to serve new clients or clients with a growing workforce to efficiently and economically train new managers and/or appraisers. Session times are as follows (select either time to attend): Appraiser Module: 11:00 am EASTERN Daylight Time (10 am CDT, 9 am MDT, 8 am PDT) Appraiser Module: 3:00 pm EASTERN Daylight Time (2 pm CDT, 1 pm MDT, 12 pm PDT, 9 am HST)

Grade inflation, where everyone is a “B” or better, has taken over most schools and colleges. The citizens of Garrison Keillor’s Lake Wobegon are all above average. Research has found that the vast majority of individuals rate themselves as better than average, with men rating themselves even higher than do women. So why should we be surprised that many performance appraisals are unrealistic and inflated? Lenient or overly generous appraisals aren’t just a sign of the times but can have unintended consequences and real costs. Read on to learn what some of those issues are and what can be done about them.

Employers continue to struggle with rising healthcare costs and have been looking for solutions or at least bandaids to stop some of the bleeding. Over the last few years organizations have put more financial burden and responsibility on employees by paying smaller portions of premiums, raising copays, and providing leaner benefits. But, according to a New York Times article, the solutions have gotten more creative.

Department of Labor statistics show that veterans have nearly twice the unemployment rates of their civilian counterparts. In doing research on this topic, I realized there are two sides to every story. This one is no exception. While veteran unemployment rates are higher in the private sector, in the public sector qualified civilian job applicants often cry foul for being passed over by government agencies with a statistical preference for hiring veterans. Keeping with the spirit of those Memorial Day observances we are soon to celebrate—which honor the patriotism and sacrifice of the brave men and women who gave their lives in the service of our nation—and because as a whole, veterans do experience a higher rate of unemployment, I offer the following reasons for hiring qualified veterans. (source: www.HireVetsFirst.gov)

According to an article in the San Diego Daily Transcript, identity theft is now the most frequent crime in the U.S. with at least 10 million people falling victim to it. The article further states that the majority of victims are scammed by someone they know.

It’s not illegal for a manager to be a jerk. A Florida restaurant attempted to use this “jerk defense” when it claimed that its female manager was “rude, crude, and mean” to everyone and therefore it couldn’t be liable for sexual harassment. But the male plaintiff contended that male employees were especially singled out for verbal and physical abuse which led to a hostile work environment.

'Tis the season for...interns...and that age old question, should you pay them or not? The United States Department of Labor (DOL) mandates that you apply a six part test to determine if intern pay is required by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). In order to avoid paying interns, you must satisfy all six of the following factors:

A hot topic of debate in the U.S. Senate, which will likely filter down to the state and municipal level is whether a law should be passed requiring employers with at least 15 workers to provide 7 paid sick days per year. The reason that this bill was introduced is because sponsors say that 50% of private sector employees have no sick time. As a result they come to work sick (and potentially contagious) so to not lose income. This condition, called presenteeism, is at the heart of the debate because employees who just show up that are ill or have family members who are ill and in need of their attention, are less productive and/or often spread illnesses across the workplace exacerbating the problem. But what about companies that have paid sick time policies and benefits in place? Does having a paid sick time policy reduce or increase unscheduled absenteeism? Absenteeism is on the rise according to the 16th annual CCH Unscheduled Absence Survey by CCH, a leading provider of human resources and employment law information and services and a part of Wolters Kluwer Law & Business (hr.cch.com). The 2006 CCH survey found that the rate of unscheduled absenteeism climbed to its highest level since 1999, costing larger companies hundreds of thousands of dollars per year in direct payroll costs, and even more when lost productivity, morale and temporary labor costs are considered.