Wage and Hour Audit
jotto
1 Post
Does anyone have an internal wage and hour audit checklist? - I want to know we are in compliance...Can anyone send me a checklist....
Thanks
Thanks
Comments
I for one do not think you will find a single check list for wage and hour audits. However, I believe the right place to start is:
. FLSA --- are you in compliance with proper classification as exempt and non-exempt with the FLSA?
. After setting up a complete listing of your employees in your EXCEL SPREADSHEET, you can now do alignments in: age, sex, race, national origins, disabilities, color, etc.
. After looking at your settings based on current listing(above) pull out your history over the last 6 years and look at "promotions and salary increases". Is there a trend or pattern that demonstrates there may be any 'GLASS CEILINGS' THAT HAVE STOPPED OR SLOWED DOWN ANY PARTICULAR RACE OR SEX.
. Now look at your individuals in your profile are there any that have received promotions or compensation or favoratism in any situation which their evaluations do not readily identify the individual as a "superstar"!
. Now, who are your MILITARY ENROLLED EMPLOYEES? Have each of these received their appropriate entitlements while they have been away, are copies of their military orders on file in their personell jackets? Did they get paid for any of their missed holidays while away? This area is very sensitive, and you must make sure your company is ready to receive the civilian/soldier back into your company without any loss of benefits while he/she was away protecting our freedoms.
For your benefit my company has 15 work sites and approximately 200 employees including management. it took me about a week to get all of the data inputted into the EXCEL program, but once it was done and checked and rechecked it took me only about 2 hours to run any number of different looks at the employment profile of our company.
The General Manager was excited to get the reports which he read and then came into my office and told me to destroy all of the information. He was satisfied that all parameters were in order. He was very concerned that the information was important; however, it could cause great concern for the morale of the company if anyone else was allowed to see the actual data with names. I went to each of the reports and deleted the column of names but left the rest of the data as ranked (high to low). I promised that the one base report would always remain under lock and key and available to no other person in the company. I considered that there are some "glass ceilings", WE ARE WORKING ON THOSE, BUT THE COMPANY CAN NOT PROMOTE ANY RACE NOR GENDER INTO LEVELS OF INCOMPENDENCE. WE CAN NOT FIX THE CONCERNS WHEN THERE IS TRULY NO ONE READY FOR THE PROMOTIONS.
From here we, the company, will be creating training opportunities for those we deem capable of developing into positions of responsibility & accountability. With time and planning we will correct the inadequate company profiles; as of now we can defend the WAGE AND HOUR AUDIT, should it come.
I have been through one (1) audit over the last 28 years. It came as a result of a "Management Information Systems" ee called and complained that the MIS computer kids were classified as EXEMPT because they worked with the computer every day building information or trying to fix some information data problem and they did not get paid OVERTIME. The complaint was well founded, the company was guilty; while there, the auditors got a call from a store clerk, who gave them a led and they checked out an additional area of concern. $76,000.00 later and follow-on inspections for the next 6 months we learn a sweet lesson:
"IF YOU HAVE AN AREA OF CONCERN, CHECK IT OUT WITH YOUR OWN HR ABILITIES AND SENSITIVITIES FOR PEOPLE ISSUES; IF THERE IS SOMETHING THERE, GET IT TO YOUR NEXT LEVEL OF AUTHORITY. IT MAY CAUSE SOME ADDITIONAL CONCERNS, BUT AT LEAST YOU CAN SLEEP EASIER KNOWING YOU HAVE DONE YOUR JOB!"
Are your time cards complete and correct? Do you have them dating back several years? Do they match the actual hours paid? Is there anyone who works more than 40 hours, but puts only 40 on their time cards? Carefully examine EVERY exempt employee you have, to make sure they truly qualify. Take nothing for granted there. Then, look at the time cards of all your employees under the age of 16 to make sure your child labor restrictions are being followed.
Wage & Hour has a fairly narrow scope - wages and hours. (Clever, ain't they.)
The investigator is checking to see that all your employees are being paid the proper amount for the proper hours, and that you can prove it. In our state, child labor audits are separate, and are conducted by a separate investigator.