Senate Approves FMLA Expansion for Military Families

The first expansion of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) in nearly 15 years moved another step closer to becoming law when the Senate voted 91-3 on Jan. 22, 2008, to approve a revised defense authorization package (H.R. 4986).  The bill includes a provision to expand leave protections under the FMLA for the family of U.S. soldiers.

The House of Representatives passed the measure a week earlier by a vote of 369-46.  The legislation will now move to the White House, where President Bush is expected to sign it into law.  The quick action by Congress to pass the authorization bill came as no surprise to political observers, who had predicted that H.R. 4986 would be passed and enacted by the end of January.

FLSA's Agriculture Exemption Precluded Plaintiff from Receiving Overtime Pay

In this case, a service truck driver sued his employer, an agricultural cooperative association, and related entities, alleging failure to pay for overtime in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).  The United States District Court granted summary judgment for the defendants.  On appeal, the 11^th Circuit affirmed, holding that:

2008 Employment Conference Has Been Scheduled For April 23rd at Prairie Meadows in Altoona

The 2008 Iowa Employment Conference will be held on April 23 at Prairie Meadows in Altoona from 7:45 a.m. until 4:05 p.m.  This one-day premier conference will feature powerful and informative concurrent sessions presented by leading human resource and training consultants, attorneys and benefit consultants on the most critical employment issues likely to affect Iowa employers in 2008.

A “Good-Faith” Workplace Investigation

Everett Young, an African American, worked as an investigator at Dillon Companies' King Soopers grocery stores in Colorado.  According to his employer's timekeeping procedures, he was supposed to complete all time records in a manner that reflected the true hours he worked.  His shift was scheduled to run from 2:00 p.m. until 10:30 p.m.

Dillon began investigating Young because of allegations that he was abusing telephone privileges during work hours.  Its investigation included reviewing store security videos.  As part of that review, his supervisor, Jon Lesley, saw images on the videos indicating that he left the store two hours before the end of his shift on January 11.

Lesley investigated Young's timekeeping records.  He was required to "punch out" at the end of every shift through an electronic timecard system and record his hours in a transfer log on the last day of each workweek.

Approaching Deadlines for Human Resource/Payroll Professionals

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