Department of Labor Issues Opinion Letter Regarding ‘Creative’ Hourly Rates
On December 21, 2018, the Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division (WHD), issued an Opinion Letter addressing a fairly common wage violation that occurs when employers attempt to get creative with the way that they calculate the hourly rate and overtime rate of employees. In the Opinion Letter, the WHD addressed a situation/question related to whether a specific method of calculating the hourly wage (for a home health aide) was proper under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Apparently, when calculating the weekly pay of home health aide employees, the employer used an hourly pay rate for only those hours