American Staffing Association

because I never felt comfortable putting
down all my hours due to the pressure I
felt coming from you and your client,”
says Smart. “What’s more, I was never
paid for all those times you told me
to show up for my assignment in the
morning, only to be told by your client
that I had to wait an hour or two to
start working. Why didn’t you pay me
for all that time spent waiting?”
“Look, it has become very obvious
that you don’t like working for our firm,”
Newbie says definitively. “That’s OK.
Despite our best efforts, sometimes the
fit just isn’t right, and I feel that’s the
case here. Thank you for coming in to
see me today. I wish you the best of luck
in the future.”
“That’s it?” Smart asks incredulously.
“You’re letting me go?! The next time
you hear from me, it will be through my
lawyer!”
If Smart sues the staffing firm, would
she likely win? If so, what could she
recover? And from whom?

Temporary employees assigned to work for clients are typically employed jointly by the staffing company and its clients— and clients may be held jointly responsible for overtime obligations.

www.advancepayroll.com

Funding with Flexibility

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Exempt Status Nuances

The Fair Labor Standards Act requires covered employers to pay each nonexempt employee 1. 5 times his or her regular hourly wage for all time worked over 40 hours in a week.

The FLSA provides exemptions from the general overtime rule for any person employed in an executive, administrative, or professional capacity, if all the pertinent tests relating to the employee’s duties and responsibilities, as defined in FLSA regulations, are met. These exemptions commonly are known as the white-collar exemptions.

To fall within one of the white-collar
exemptions, an employee generally must
make at least $455 a week, perform
certain exempt duties, and be paid on
a salary basis. According to the U.S.
Department of Labor and applicable
regulations, “being paid on a ‘salary basis’
means an employee regularly receives a
predetermined amount of compensation
each pay period on a weekly, or less fre-
quent, basis. The predetermined amount
cannot be reduced because of variations
in the quality or quantity of the employ-
ee’s work” (see 29 CFR 541.602[a]).