Plug in Time Clocks…Nevermore.

Posted by Barry Rubin on 5/16/2016 to Tips and Resources

Modern day Time Clock Systems now use a single cable to provide both data connection and electrical power to Biometric, badge, clock card systems and even keypad entry time clock terminals.

Aptly named Power over Ethernet or PoE, uses standard IEEE 802.3 technology in which CAT 5 and higher data cables have 4 pairs of internal wires and where only two of are needed for data transmission, power is transmitted unused wires. Hence the name, Power over Ethernet, or PoE for short, that’s PoE, not Poe, as in Edgar Allen

Employee Schedules Cut and Pasties

Posted by Barry Rubin on 5/9/2016 to Tips and Resources

The Dollhouse is the latest Florida exotic dance club to have a lawsuit filed against it for misclassification of employee status, failure to maintain recorded hours and state minimum wage violations, following Baby Dolls of Clearwater, Florida. These types of issues are typically caught prior to employee litigation or US Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division investigation by the use of an electronic time clock system, or other time clock device.

The lawsuit alleges that the establishment classified the dancers as contractors and required them to pay support staff such as the DJ and members of security. As contractors the dancers were paid no wages, and forced to use tips to meet state minimum wage requirements, which in Florida is $8.05 per hour. However employers can pay a lower hourly minimum wage, as long as that wage plus the tips the employee earns equals at least the full minimum wage for each hour worked. This scenario would be the case if the dancers were classified correctly, which they were not, and if the club had used an employee time clock or at the very least, time cards, which they did not.

Wage and Hour Division Violations for Agricultural Workers

Posted by Barry Rubin on 5/2/2016 to Tips and Resources

A U.S. Department of Labor investigation concluded that Miguel Rosales Ruiz (a farm labor contractor) violated the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection. Mr. Ruiz failed to maintain required FLSA accurate time records such as an employee time clock, or any one of the hundreds of electronic time clock systems available today.

Mary O’Rourke, district director for the Wage and Hour Division stated that “The work of the Wage and Hour Division helps ensure that the fruits and vegetables sold to the American people are produced under fair and equitable employment conditions.”

Investigators found Ruiz, did not pay workers the federal minimum wage, or overtime, and will now be subjected to paying 33 workers $14,628, which comes out to $7,314 in back wages and as well as $7,314 in liquidated damages.

SHRM Annual Conference and Exposition

Posted by Barry Rubin on 4/25/2016 to Tips and Resources

Visit with Time Clock Man as he and other industry experts who have their fingers on the pulse of Human Resources at the Society of Human Resource Management conference and exposition, the world’s largest HR solutions-center.

The SHRM expo hall is where you will learn more about what's happening in the world of workforce asset management. Demo the most innovative products including automatic and electronic time clock systems, biometric time clock systems including fingerprint, face recognition and hand geometry time clock systems for small business.

In addition to the more than 650 exhibits, there are over 200 concurrent educational sessions and guest speakers including CNN Commentator Paul Begala, Fox News Tucker Carlson, Former Chief Executive Officer of the Ford Motor Company Alan Mulally, and Mike Rowe, host of the hit Discovery TV series, Dirty Jobs.

Time Clock Man, (www.TIMECLOCKMAN.com) is the market leader in simple and inexpensive professional grade workforce management systems, and is a regular presenter at SHRM. SHRM has 275,000 members in 140 countries. This years SHRM Annual Conference & Exposition and runs from June 19th, 2016 to June 22nd, 2016 in Washington, D.C.

Georgia chemical company complies with FLSA periodically

Posted by Barry Rubin on 4/18/2016 to Tips and Resources

Georgia chemical contract packager Apollo Industries has been charged with paying over 190 employees standard time for overtime hours worked, instead of overtime, which in the state of Georgia is time and a half the hourly rate of pay after 40 hours worked in a week, as well as not recording other hours worked via a time clock device or similar measure, resulting in multiple minimum wage violations.

The lawsuit seeks to recover minimum wages and overtime compensation which date back to 2012 and include liquidated damages could reach several hundred thousand of dollars far exceeding the time clock price that would have assured Apollo management compliance with the law, thus avoiding the expense and unbearable effort involved in mitigation.

Many minimum wage and overtime violations are often honest mistakes caused by improper record keeping that would be avoided by using a simple and inexpensive time clock system, time cards, or online payroll service that includes time clock software . Repeat violators face fines up to $10,000 and may face imprisonment for additional violations. The US Department of Labor requires companies to maintain accurate time and payroll records and to comply with the hours worked

Facial recognition leading all other biometric technologies, by a nose.

Posted by Barry Rubin on 4/4/2016 to Tips and Resources

A facial recognition electronic time clock device is capable of identifying an employee from dual-sensor infrared technology and then stored in a database which creates a profile based on the facial structure of the employee

Facial recognition Time and Attendance systems are ideal time clock systems for small business and typically compared to other biometrics time clock devices like fingerprint, hand reader biometrics and iris recognition systems. This technology can differentiate between a live face and an imposter, a two-dimensional picture making facial recognition an ideal selection for high security applications world wide. The Australian and New Zealand Customs Services have an automated border processing system that uses facial recognition. Tocumen International Airport in Panama operates Facial recognition property-wide, and one of the largest face recognition systems in the world is utilized by the U.S. Department of State.

Policies for Personal Time Off

Posted by Barry Rubin on 3/28/2016 to Tips and Resources

As WEO Certified Professionals we are often asked by clients about a paid time off or PTO policy for employees, and more often specifically part time employees. The answers can vary depending on where our clients are based with regard to governmental mandates and what if any labor unions or European equivalent, trade union agreements are in place. In Canada, for example, there is an employment standard and PTO is calculated at 4% of annual earnings, except in Saskatchewan where it jumps to 6%. So as you see it can be confusing.

Restaurant dishes out nearly $100,000 in fines for Employee time clock record keeping violations.

Posted by Barry Rubin on 3/14/2016 to Tips and Resources

Hibachi Buffet of Tampa, Florida failed to maintain records for hours worked to pay $97,462 to 12 employees.

Investigators from the department's Wage and Hour Division Tampa District Office found that Hibachi Buffet violated the overtime, minimum wage and record keeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Specifically, the employer required servers to work for tips, room and board only and did not pay kitchen employees overtime pay for hours worked beyond 40 in a work week. Additionally, the employer failed to maintain records for all hours worked. Wage and Hour investigators have recently become more aggressive with record keeping fines, due in part to the numerous, easy to use, affordable time and attendance applications on the market today.

New Jersey Gas Station Labor Practices

Posted by Barry Rubin on 3/7/2016

Check the oil, and your labor practices.

More than 1,100 New Jersey gas station attendants receive $5.5 million in back wages and damages in US Labor Department enforcement initiative.

Violations found at Shell, Exxon, BP and other national brand gas stations.

Over 1000 Gas Station attendants in New Jersey have been denied the minimum wage and overtime pay in what the DOL is considering a direct and willful violation federal FLSA record-keeping provisions.

Wisconsin Cleaning Company Has a Dirty Record Keeping Secret

Posted by Barry Rubin on 2/29/2016 to Tips and Resources

Mid Valley Industrial violated multiple regulations including time keeping, overtime and minimum wage.

Failing to pay workers for time worked will almost always result in an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor. After the findings in this case Mid Valley Industrial Services Inc. will pay back wages to 56 workers in excess of $100,000 for not properly keeping time clock records of the time employees drove to job sites, and loading or unloaded work vehicles. Additionally, a salaried employee was inaccurately classified as exempt from overtime.