The following press release was issued by the US Department of Labor.
DALLAS, TX – The Department of Labor’s Payroll Department (WHD) has launched an outreach and enforcement initiative to ensure compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) for businesses with children to improve care industry in its southwest region.
WHD will conduct compliance support seminars and improve close communication and coordination with stakeholders in the childcare industry. Outreach will be combined with strategic and data-driven enforcement efforts to test compliance with industry guidelines and identify and address trends in violations.
Typical violations in the childcare industry are:
– inappropriate deductions from workers’ wages, e.g. B. for background checks and uniforms;
– Failure to pay for all hours worked by employees, including time spent on required training, working through meal times, and working time after an employee’s scheduled shift is finished;
– Wrongly classify employees as volunteers or independent contractors and then fail to pay them the minimum wage or overtime;
– Payment of wage rates for overtime;
– incorrect application of exemptions for teachers to child carers; and
– Failure to combine the hours worked by employees in multiple locations in the same work week when determining when overtime is due.
“Employers and employees in the childcare industry do an important public service. The coronavirus pandemic has underscored the economic importance of the industry to workers and their communities, ”said Betty Campbell, Southwest Administrator of the Dallas Payroll Department. “Our public relations work consists of informing employers in the childcare industry about their legal obligations in accordance with all applicable federal requirements, offering compliance support and carrying out other activities to protect the welfare of the country’s workforce. Our goal is to get our information into the hands of everyone who needs it and to improve the playing field for employers in this industry. “
The Southwest Region of the Payroll Department includes Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.
The department offers numerous resources to ensure employers have the tools they need to understand their responsibilities and comply with federal laws, such as: B. Online videos and confidential calls to WHD offices.
For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the Payroll Department, call the toll-free line at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Employers who discover violations of overtime or minimum wages can report and correct these violations themselves without litigation under the PAID program. Information can also be found at https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd.
WHD’s mission is to promote and achieve compliance with labor standards to protect and improve the welfare of the country’s workforce. WHD enforces the minimum wage, overtime wage, record keeping and child labor requirements of the Act on Fair Labor Standards. WHD also enforces the Migrant Worker and Seasonal Farm Worker Protection Act, the Employee Polygraph Protection Act, the Family and Sick Leave Act, the Wage Attachment Provisions of the Consumer Credit Protection Act, and a number of employment standards and worker protection provisions contained in several immigration-related laws are provided. In addition, WHD administers and enforces the applicable wage requirements of the Davis-Bacon Act and the Service Contract Act, as well as other laws that apply to federal contracts for the construction and supply of goods and services.
The Department of Labor’s mission is to promote, promote, and develop the welfare of wage earners, job seekers, and retirees in the United States. Improve working conditions; Promote opportunities for profitable employment; and ensure work-related benefits and rights.
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