On Oct. 24, 2022, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that call center workers can seek overtime compensation under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for the time they spend booting up and shutting down their computers. This decision is now binding precedent in the 9th Circuit, which includes Alaska, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.

Case Background – In this case, Cadena v. Customer Connexx LLC, the employer (Connexx)  provided customer service and scheduling to customers over a “soft phone,” operated only through their employer-provided computers. At the time, Connexx agents used a phone program called “Five9,” an application that operates through employees’ computers rather than through a physical phone. Employees estimated that the average boot-up time was between 6.8 and 12.1 minutes. Once logged in, employees had to load various programs and scripts and confirm that their phones were connected and ready to accept calls.

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Compensation Trends – Although some organizations may cut jobs or reduce hiring as economic growth slows, some are paying higher employee wages to keep and win top talent. Today, workers can demand higher pay and better benefits as many employers face a worker shortage and struggle with employee attraction and retention. It’s been a worker-friendly labor market in recent years, and it’s not going away anytime soon. The latest compensation trends aren’t just about wage increases, but also workers wanting to get paid differently, be compensated based on their work and receive more pay transparency. Click the following link to read Today’s Top Compensation Trends

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The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD) administers and enforces the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) for all private and state and local government employees, as well as some federal employees. The FMLA entitles eligible employees of covered employers to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons with continuation of group health insurance coverage under the same terms and conditions as if the employee had not taken leave. The FMLA applies to private employers who employ 50 or more employees in 20 or more workweeks in the current or preceding calendar year, all public agencies—including federal, state and local employers—and local education agencies.

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On Oct. 25, 2022, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued a fact sheet containing FAQs about its new poster titled “Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal.” The EEOC initially released a version of the new poster on Oct. 19, 2022, and then reissued a revised version on Oct. 20, 2022.

Among other things, the FAQs about the new “Know Your Rights” poster clarify that if an employer downloaded or printed it on Oct. 19, the employer should ensure that it uses the newer version, which is instead marked as “Revised 10/20/2022.”

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Identifying and retaining key employees is especially important in light of ongoing attraction and retention difficulties many employers have been facing. According to Zywave’s 2022 Attraction and Retention Survey, more than 75% of employers consider attraction and retention to be among their top five business challenges.

In response to changing work demands brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and trends such as the “Great Reshuffle”—a mass movement of workers from their current roles to positions that meet their shifting job expectations and priorities—retaining employees has become increasingly difficult for employers.

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Check out the following links and PDFs to help you navigate current state and local legislative updates.

• Alaska Updates State Minimum Wage Exemptions

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The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD) is tasked with enforcing employment laws that affect more than 148 million workers. The WHD enforces federal minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping and child labor requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), as well as the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and a number of other employment standards and worker protections.

In fiscal year 2021, the WHD collected $230 million in wages owed to 190,000 workers.

At the start of 2022, the DOL announced an initiative to hire 100 additional WHD investigators, signaling a potential increase in enforcement in 2022 and beyond. This initiative means now is the time for employers to review their wage and hour practices to ensure compliance with all relevant laws.

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Receiving performance feedback is a fundamental part of any job. Without some sort of reflection, how would your employees know what they’re doing well or what needs improvement? They likely wouldn’t—at least not in any formal capacity.

Surveys show performance reviews are one of the most disliked features of any workplace. Not only do employees not want to endure them, but neither do their managers.

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In today’s competitive and fast-moving employment landscape, employers may struggle with attraction and retention. In fact, according to Zywave’s 2022 Attraction and Retention Benchmarking Overview, 75% of employers consider this a top-five business challenge.

Time-to-hire is a metric that calculates how quickly a company can select and hire a job candidate. It’s calculated by totaling the number of days that pass between the candidate applying for the role and getting hired as an employee.

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“Quiet quitting” is an emerging trend where workers only do what their job description entails without going above and beyond. Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, many employees shifted their views on their work lives, and this has been reflected in movements such as the Great Reshuffle—a mass movement of workers to jobs that meet their demands for things such as more flexibility and better benefits—the shift to remote work and, now, the quiet quitting trend.

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