Compliance Watch Bulletin – Get the Latest Updates on Labor Laws
February 4, 2021
by Justin Siu
We just sent out the second edition of our new Compliance Watch Bulletin. We publish this new guide quarterly to keep you updated on the latest changes in compliance regulations and labor laws. In our second edition, we’re covering updates on tip pooling, predictive scheduling, and minimum wage laws.
Tip Pooling Regulation
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), a “tipped employee” receives more than $30 in tips per month. Tipped employees are general workers who work in the ‘Front of House,’ such as cashiers or waiters, and the tips may be their main source of pay. Employers can use tips as a ‘tip credit’ to pay the employee at least the state/federal minimum wage.
Legion WFM makes it easy for managers to record tips either by automating tip pooling by location or manual entry of daily tips by employees. If tip pooling is enabled, managers can enter the total tip amount for a given location. Legion computes each employee’s tippable hours and distributes them proportionally to employees
NYC Fair Workweek Update for Fast Food Employees
New York City Fair Workweek law has been in effect since November 2017 for Fast Food and Retail workers. This law includes a good faith estimate of work schedule, advance notice period for schedule publish and schedule changes, and employee consent and premiums for clopening and schedule change violations. In January 2021, Mayor Bill de Blasio signed into law major changes to NYC’s Fair Workweek Ordinance as it applies to fast food workers.
Legion WFM can automatically flag managers if they edit a schedule within the 14-day advance notice period. Plus, Legion WFM can automatically compute premium pay based on schedule change violations, clopening violations, and late schedule publications.
Minimum Wage
Minimum wage adjustments typically take effect in January or July. Effective January 1, 2021, a number of jurisdictions have increased their minimum wage. This includes cities and states such as California, Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Washington. Refer to Compliance Watch November 2020 for the full listing. Many jurisdictions will increase their minimum wage on July 1, 2021.
The city and state minimum wage can be loaded directly into Legion WFM. When managers offer open shifts to employees, Legion WFM takes the city and state minimum wage and compares it to the employee’s pay rate. If the employee makes more than the minimum wage, then the shift will be offered.