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The Department of Labor DOL |
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Protecting the Americian Worker? |
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By mistake I was sent a news Letter from HR Managers Legal Reporter, Issue 412, December 2003 Copywright 2003 Ransom & Benjamin Publishers LLC! In the issue they talked about "The 4 stop signs and 10 steps'" that employers should take before they terminate an employee that has used the FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) so they won't end up in ligitation! They go into great detail when to fire a person who has requested FMLA. This means that upon the need for extended leave (over 2 weeks), your company now knows when and how to legally fire you, and/or repalce you! Have a baby, break a bone, have surgery, become injured, and companies that subscribe to this news letter will know when and how to remove you from your job, legally with no recouse for you the employee!
Make sure you know your legal rights under the FMLA! BTW, just because you don't know your rights, or the company has stricter policy, dosen't mean that you don't have a legal leg to stand on. I read in HRM where many cases were sent back to court on appeal! |
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There was an other article "Auditing Wage and Hour Pratices" The expert is a partner for a National Employement Law Firm, and states "By Department of Labor estimates, 70% of employers are NOT in compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act." The expert recommends that companies do self audits to: Determin if there is significant likelyhood of violation; prevent the added danger of collective actions; to prevent ligitations; to avoid "willful claims" by employees. The expert then recomends that employers use councel to conduct audits because: audit information will become attorney-client privilege, and councel has the experience to identify any problems and develope creative solutions. The expert says to have "impacted employees sign a release, even though said releases are INVALID unless signed under Dept of Labor supervision! |
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LINKS: |
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4 stops & 10 Steps to Effective Disability Management Pt 1 |
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4 stops & 10 Steps to Effective Disability Management Pt 2 |
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4 stops & 10 Steps to Effective
Disability Management pt 3 |
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Auditing Wage and Hour Pratices |
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DOL Transcript
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Back to the Home Page |
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We, the Americian Worker depend on the government to protect us from greedy employers who would be running "sweat shops" in the Greatest Country in the world, The USA! This is part of the reason we are disliked internationally! We have laws that we can't enforced under every department from a to z, yet we try to tell other countries how to run their business! Businesses can get away with out having to comply with Fair Labor Standards Act! It takes a legal compalint to get the any action! I have compalined, and nothing happened! I've complained at the State level, and took it to the Federal level with no resolve! At the State level the agency that is supposed to be policing employers, says its the Feds job! The Feds in turn say that it's the States job to investigate. We end up in a bureaucratic loop with neither State or Federal Branch accepting responsibility, or doing something to remedy the situation! The result is the employer gets away with non-compliance, and the employee has no recourse but to accep what the employer is doing, legal or not! It is very hard to find an attorney that will file aganist a company! I guess its bad for business! |
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Example |
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What I'm speaking of is: In the construction Industry; Dump Truck Drivers may have to work double shifts as required by the employer! In the construction industry this is 2 - 12 hour shifts. Due to the fact that these CDL drivers are log exempt, these drivers do not follow the DOT (Dept of Transportation) laws for the HOS (Hours of Service)! According to DOT HOS "NO driver is allowd to dirve over 11 hours in a 24 hour period. Once a driver reaches 11 hours, he must be relieved for a period of no less than 10 consecutive hours! A driver must not go over 70 hours in 8 days, or 60 hours in 7 days. Upon recieving 32 consecutive hours off, a driver may restart his 7 or 8 day accumlated hours at 0.00!
As far as the "whistel blowers" protection law? WORTHLESS!!! If your company wants you out, you are gone! For the Feds to relate the fact you just busted the company, for instance, for the failure to pay proper OT, has no relivence on your termination for being late on the job site! Even though you have the Pope to testify the supervisor made a mistake, the Feds will side with the company, which is also illegal! There is a law that says the employee is to be favored over the employer in Ohio!
In Dump Trucking, it's not unusual to get over 70 hours a week! This is only 14 hours a day 5 days a week in round numbers! You say that I'm only legal with 11 hours a day dirve time, and you are correct! Since I'm not required to keep a drivers log, whos going to know? Oh I forgot to tell you that any trucking company that operates within 100 air miles from their home terminal is log exempt! Therefore I have to drive as long as the bosses say so! The DOT has Motor Carrier Enforement officers on the roads checking the Over-The -Road drivers and their log books that they are required by law to keep, because of that 100 air mile thing again!
The bottom line is these smaller companies are using the feds inaction to avoid paying OT that these drivers have EARNED! Think, if your employer could shave from 30 minutes to 4 hours a day off your time! In 5 days that would be 2.5 to 20 hours a week! Our average is 10 to 12 hours a week! That means when I put in 50 hours, it is more like 62 actual hours! That is over $200.00 per check in unpaid overtime! Don't think your boss would NOT try if he thought he or she could get away with it! Check the link to Auditing Wage and Hour Pratices, you'll be supprised at what employers do to their employees not caring about the FSLA, or employee impact! All they care about is their profit margin!
And the DOL passed the buck to the DOT as far as drivers wages go! They are real vauge as to what is hours worked when it comes to drivers! This doesn't matter, because who is going to check up on me or the comapny I work for? The DOL lets the employers police themselves! Kind of sounds like letting the fox take charge of the hen house now don't it. |
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