Wage & Hour Quiz – True or False
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE
This month’s article is designed as an interactive exercise with the reader and to test the reader’s knowledge regarding wage and hour issues. Please take a few moments to complete the quiz. The answers will appear in next month’s article.
Test your knowledge of the Fair Labor Standards Act, Florida Minimum Wage Act, and the overtime requirements thereunder.
1. If I pay an employee a salary, I do not have to pay that employee overtime for hours worked in excess of forty hours during the work week.
2. If the company closes for a weather emergency for 3 days, I may deduct 3 days pay from a salary-exempt employee’s pay.
3. As long as a non-exempt employee signs an agreement allowing the company to deduct for the cost of items provided to an employee by the company, the company may deduct such amounts from an employee’s pay.
4. The U.S. Department of Labor collected more than $220 million in back wages during fiscal year 2007.
5. It is the employee’s responsibility to maintain accurate time records.
6. The Fair Labor Standards Act always takes priority over Florida’s Minimum Wage Act.
7. The minimum weekly salary for a salaried-exempt employee is $455 a week.
8. Paying a salaried-exempt employee additional compensation for hours worked in excess of 40 hours in a work week converts the salaried-exempt employee’s status to non-exempt.
9. Florida’s minimum wage is tied to the consumers’ price index and is published annually on September 30.
10. The Fair Labor Standards Act is a simple straightforward statute that is easily understood by everyone.
11. If an employee is paid on a fluctuating work week basis, it is permissible for an employer to pay an employee half of the employee’s regular hourly rate for each hour worked in excess of 40 hours in lieu of 1 ½ times an employee’s regular rate of pay.
12. An employer is required to include all bonuses received by a non-exempt employee during the applicable pay period when determining an employee’s regular rate of hourly pay.
13. An employer is not required to pay an employee for unauthorized overtime.
14. Private sector employers are permitted to give non-exempt employees compensatory time off in lieu of actual pay for hours worked in excess of 40 hours during the workweek.
15. Under Florida’s Minimum Wage Act, an employer must respond to an employee’s written notice of its failure to pay overtime wages within 15 calendar days of receiving the notice.
An employer is well-served to ensure that its staff understands the rules governing the payment of overtime to non-exempt employees as the failure to pay overtime when required may result in an employer being liable for double damages, attorneys’ fees and costs. Next month’s article will publish the answers to the above-referenced true/false questions.
A note to the reader: This article is intended to provide general information and is not intended to be a substitute for competent legal advice. This article has been reprinted with the permission of Lee Building Industry Association, www.bia.net.
Questions regarding the content of this column or past columns may be e-mailed to Christina Harris Schwinn at christinaschwinn@paveselaw.com. Ms. Schwinn is an experienced employment law attorney with the Pavese Law Firm, 1833 Hendry Street, Fort Myers, FL 33901; Telephone: (239) 336-6228; Telecopier: (239) 332-2243.