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Tag: FLSA

Breaking It Down: Georgia Paid Lactation Breaks

November 9, 2020

Thanks to the relevatively recently enacted paid lactation breaks law, providing lactation breaks is required of all employers in Georgia.

Lactation breaks were already required under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and most states have followed suit. Now, however, Georgia is taking it a step further and adding more protection to its law for the sake of its employees. O.C.G.A. § 34-1-6. Keep reading to learn everything that you need to know.

The Battle for Breastfeeding

There has been an ongoing debate for years over the propriety of breastfeeding in public, in the workplace, or anywhere other than the comfort of home. However, as this is a natural and necessary part of motherhood for many, it is unfair and illegal to discriminate against women who need to take additional breaks in the workplace or have some type of support to allow them to handle their lactation needs.

The battle for equality in the workplace has been raging for years and may never fully become realized entirely, but at least for now, those who need lactation breaks can trust that they will get them. The FLSA has had a provision in place for some time that mandates that employers allow lactation breaks in a space other than a bathroom. However, this does not require those breaks nor require that they be paid, simply to be provided as they are needed to any woman who is nursing and may need to take a break as a result.

Georgia Takes It Further

The initial law in Georgia was a permissive provision that followed the exact parameters of the FLSA requirement. For a while, that worked for the state. However, it has recently updated the lactation breaks law to include paid breaks for all employees. Under the new guidelines, the law states that:

  • Employees must be given breaks of a “reasonable duration”

  • Breaks should be paid at their regular compensation rate

  • Breaks are not mandated when employees are working away from the main worksite

  • Employers cannot reduce pay or force employees to use paid leave to cover lactation breaks, even for salaried and exempt employees

  • A private location, other than a bathroom, needs to be provided

There is also a provision in the new law for smaller employers with fewer than 50 employees permitting them to follow this code, so long as it does not cause “undue hardship” to the business. Companies will need to consider their size, resources, and nature of business to determine whether they have any situations that would qualify as undue hardship, but this is typically decided on a case-by-case basis.

The employer does still have some say in what is deemed “reasonable” and “necessary”, of course, but for the most part, employees can take the breaks that they need, when they need them. If they are a Georgia employee, they are now also going to get paid for that time.

To make sure that the FLSA is expanded upon properly, Georgia also put provisions to prevent a one-year cap on this allowance. Instead, employees can continue to take the breaks for as long as reasonably necessary. Georgia, and all states, can provide this greater benefit because the FLSA does not preempt any state laws offering better protection. The FLSA is the minimum standard, and nothing more.

The FLSA does provide protection from retaliation for employees. If an employer is not pleased with having to provide these breaks, they may try to dock the employee’s pay or retaliate against them in another way. The FLSA prohibits this behavior, and as noted above, the new Georgia law reinforces that no one can be penalized for taking these breaks, including exempt and salaried employees.

New Times Call for New Considerations

As the public health crisis continues to put the emphasis on people first, companies are starting to come around to better benefits, such as in the case of the updated paid lactation breaks law in the state of Georgia. Things are changing. As a result, previously contentious topics like lactation breaks are now coming to the forefront hoping to be impacted positively by the wave of change.

It will be a matter of time until the benefits of this new law are seen firsthand, but it already gives working nursing mothers more peace of mind.

5 Reasons Why Employers Settle Unpaid Overtime Claims

July 2, 2018

The Federal Labor Standards Act is very clear: all employees must be paid at least minimum wage for every hour worked and overtime pay for every hour worked over forty hours in a week. Unfortunately, even when employers do their absolute best to comply, compliance checks and balances fail, delegation to third party payroll processors fail, technology fail or human errors abound. If an employer find’s itself in this situations there are good reasons to settle the claim. Some of these are as follows:

  1. You made a mistake – such as deducting lunchtime from the number of hours worked per week even though you do not permit the employee to take a lunch break or the employee cannot halt work to take a lunch break, or failing to keep adequate time records in the first place
  2. A class action is no joke – should there be more than a few employees claiming unpaid overtime, whether their allegations are valid or not, the cost of defending such a suit would be enormous and if they’re successful, the costs of back pay and penalties can also be crippling
  3. Treble damages – this is legal speak for if found to be liable, you’ll pay double the unpaid wages owed. Hence if you’ve made a mistake (see reason number one above) – settlement for the amount owed without treble damages makes sense
  4. Attorneys Fees – the law provides for automatic entitlement to reimbursement for attorneys fees for all successful plaintiffs in such lawsuits, thus, if found to be liable you’ll pay double the unpaid wages owed, treble damages and attorneys fees incurred by the plaintiff (or plaintiffs – see number two above)
  5. Unwelcome visitors from the Department of Labor – the DOL will not launch a full investigation for an isolated case of unpaid overtime, trust me, I’ve tried to get them to do it; however if the employees can muster any semblance of a class or if you business has been reported systemically, expect a visit from some unwelcome visitors

Quick Tips: US Department of Labor Advisory Opinions

August 20, 2017

Avoid misinterpretations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), the Family Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”), and other federal wage and hour laws by seeking guidance directly from the U.S. Department of Labor. 

The US DOL Wage and Hour Division will now recommence the issuance of opinion letters on the application of these federal laws to an anonymous employer’s unique circumstances. The opinion letter becomes publicly available and can be fully relied on as a defense to wage and hour claims. 

Few useful facts about the Opinion Letter:

  • Response to applications are excessively delayed
  • Division exercises full discretion on which letters will receive a response  
  • No privilege applies to shield opinions from trade secret disclosures, pending audits, litigation and personal privacy, however, an attorney client privilege would be available if your attorney completes the application