Business Management Daily (04/04/12)

Federal class-action lawsuits brought under the Fair Labor
Standards Act outnumber all other types of private class-action
suits in employment-related cases. The FLSA sets the federal
minimum wage and requires time-and-a-half overtime pay for hourly
employees who work more than 40 hours in a week.

Companies need to be familiar with additional federal
legislation, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,
which prohibits sexual harassment in the workplace and from
discriminating in hiring, firing, or pay based on a
person’s race, religion, gender, or national origin. The
Americans With Disabilities Act prohibits job discrimination
against qualified people with disabilities. Therefore, companies
should never immediately reject disabled applicants but instead
should work with human resource personnel to help create
reasonable accommodations for disabled employees.

The Family and Medical Leave Act says employees with at least a
year of service can take up to 12 weeks per year of unpaid,
job-protected time off for the birth or adoption of a child or to
care for themselves or a sick child, spouse, or parent who has a
“serious” health condition. The FMLA applies to
organizations with 50 or more employees. The Age Discrimination
in Employment Act says employers cannot discriminate against
applicants or employees older than 40 because of their age. This
means that companies should never take a person’s age or
proximity to retirement into account when making decisions on
hiring, firing, pay, benefits, or promotions.