Wage and Hour Claims: Is the Staffing Industry a Target for the Department of Labor and Plaintiffs’ Counsel?

This article first appeared in the November/December 2012 issue of Staffing Now, the North Carolina Association of Staffing Professionals (NCASP) Ezine.

The number of wage and hour lawsuits filed in the United States is dramatically increasing, with thousands of federal wage and hour claims brought against employers so far this year. The increase is due in large part to the weak economy and high unemployment rate. These lawsuits arise primarily out of the Fair Labor Standards Act (the “FLSA”) which is the federal law governing minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping requirements, child labor standards, and equal pay in employment. Wage and hour claims can also arise under state law, and, recently, we have seen a “hybrid” of cases consisting of both federal and state law claims. Not surprisingly, the staffing industry has been impacted by this rapid rise in wage and hour claims.

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