Wage and Hour Lawsuits Against Small and Mid-Sized Businesses on the Rise

An interesting article from Portfolio.com notes that:

“Lawsuits over overtime, long a bane of big business, are moving their way down the ladder. More such suits are being filed against small and mid-sized businesses, too.” 

Obviously, this is bad news for smaller businesses.  In my experience, large companies often have an issue or two when it comes to job classifications or overtime calculations despite the fact that most have analyzed their wage and hour compliance.  By contrast, smaller business have often given it little consideration and could be easy targets in wage and hour litigation.  Given the potential stakes involved, smaller businesses need to get their wage and hour houses in order. 

One aside – notice the first anecdote in the Portfolio.com story.  The company gave bonuses but did not adjust employees’ base rates to reflect the bonus and was hit with unpaid overtime claims.  This illustrates one of the axioms of employment law: no good deed goes unpunished.