Department of Labor Under Obama

Previous posts have focused on the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) as the key labor issue in President-elect Obama’s administration. (Click here and here.) To be sure, this Act is quite significant.

As the Washington Post reports, however, an issue with potentially more significance for employers and employees is the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) itself. The Bush administration has been criticized for being too employer-friendly and not sufficiently enforcing labor laws already on the books. It’s a safe bet that the DOL in the new administration will be far more concerned about enforcement than we’ve seen during the last eight years.

Watch for three key areas to receive a lot of attention: (1) overtime violations; (2) misclassification of non-exempt employees as exempt employees; and (3) emphasis on worker safety through more inspections under the Occupational Safety and Health Act. With the economy being what it is, these three areas make tempting targets for employers to use to cut corners and save money.

Don’t yield to temptation. With increased activity by the DOL, you could easily find your economic situation becoming much worse if you’re found to owe a bunch of overtime, either because you didn’t pay it or because you misclassified your employees. If OSHA violations are discovered, you could find yourself owing fines and penalties. More importantly, you could be required to make expensive changes in the way you operate to make your workplace safer for your employees.

Before the DOL does an audit on your company, do an internal one with the help of your labor and employment counsel. If you find problems, correct them now, instead of waiting for the DOL to tell you what to do.