Wage and Hour Laws - Compliance "Toolkit"

Running a business brings many responsibilities, including the responsibility for complying with various federal labor and employment laws. The Wage and Hour Division (WHD) within the Labor Department administers and enforces these laws. Business owners have the responsibility to pay employees properly, maintain certain records, provide eligible workers with unpaid family or  medical leave and to notify employees of their rights in the workplace. WHD has more than 200 offices across the U.S. with personnel available to assist companies (and workers) wade through the complexities of the many laws and regulations. For the "do-it-yourselfers", the Labor Department has may on-line resources as well.

One such useful online resource is the "Compliance Assistance Toolkits" page. These toolkits are designed to help employers understand their rights and responsibilities and provide a series of interactive step-by-step tools to walk employers through a variety of scenarios, in-depth guides to help employers navigate the requirements of the FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act), and fact sheets that detail how the FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act_ applies to many specific types of employments.

Currently, the WHD has six toolkits, four of which will be of interest to Government contractors:

1. Basic Compliance Assistance Toolkit
2. FLSA Toolkit
3. FMLA Toolkit, and 
4. Government Contracts Toolkit

The Government Contracts Toolkit covers topics that are specific to Government contractors. These include such things as:

• Davis-Bacon Act (DBA)
• Service Contract Act (SCA)
• Displace employee rights
• Paid sick leave for federal contractors

These toolkits also contain the required notices that need to be place in a prominent area of the company.

The WHD performs compliance reviews on how well companies (especially Government contractors) adhere to these rules and regulations. Many companies have been the recipient of these compliance reviews. Some compliance reviews are regularly scheduled reviews. Others are initiated based on employee complaints. It is not uncommon to find instances where employees are better versed in labor laws than the employer/company.

For more information on the various toolkits, click here.