Introduction
The Florida Administrative code is premised on the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). In fact, some sections of this code simply refer readers to the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act implying the code is designed to be in tandem with the provisions of the law. It is vital to understand FLSA law. It is a federal law that gives the overtime and compensation terms, among other things, for all employees in the private and government institutions. Importantly, it is vital to realize the fact that the Florida Administrative code applies to the state public agencies alone (Torrey, 2015). FLSA has been in action for a long time since its enactment in the year 1938. However, this law has passed through amendments several times.
Are the directors' complaints valid?
The many department directors have valid complaints regarding the requirement for them to regularly work over 40 hours in a week. This complaint is valid because they are arguing in their capacity as excluded career service employees. In this memorandum, the excluded career service employees submit to the governor that they are considering filing a lawsuit against the Florida State agency because of continued violation of their rights, which are protected in the law. Had they argued based on their job titles as directors of departments, then the complaint would not have been valid. Therefore, it is quite important for this public agency to consider the memorandum dispatched to the governor by the directors cautiously and analyze its merits (Leader, 2016). The human resource department must be able to address this issue urgently and based on the law before it becomes a court battle. There is no need of letting the issue go to court yet the directors have a strongly valid case.
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What Florida Administrative code addresses the issue?
There is the Florida Administrative code number 60L-34.0043 on regular compensatory leave, which directly speaks to this issue. According to section 1 of this particular Florida Administrative code, any state agency that requires the excluded career service employees to extend their work period over the regular time of 40 hours per week must understand that such workers are entitled to earn normal compensatory leave credits for the equivalent extra hours worked (Walsh, 2015). It is important to note that this code also mentions the need for the approval by the agency in order to get the compensation. Moreover, the code advises against accruing extra hours to over 240 hours. In this case, the many directors claim to have worked extended hours for many years without any compensation.
The FLSA has a special provision, which authorizes public agencies to give compensatory time off in the place of monetary overtime for the exempt employees. The comp time liability on the part of the agency is not reached until the point when 40 actual hours have been consumed within the workweek. It is also vital to understand that the law provides for an open window, where the employers can agree with the exempt employees on the various ways of compensation for the time worked in excess of 40 hours a week. Compensation in terms of regular leave time has to be done at a determined rate of not less than one and a half hours for every single hour worked in excess of the normal 40 hours a week.
What should the agency be doing in the future?
This agency must be cautious enough to avoid continued infringement of the rights of employees. The agency must be able to go through all the provisions of the FLSA and the Florida Administrative code with the help of legal advice and come up with ways of ensuring it remains compliant with the code. It is vital to understand the FLSA because it is the basis upon which the Florida Administrative code on overtime and regular work time was developed.
In the future, this agency must ensure that only the non-exempt workers are given overtime. In the event the exempt workers like directors must work over the regular 40 hours a week, then the agency should be awarding them comp time. There is need for a mutual understanding between the agency and the directors to establish effective ways in which this comp time can be implemented for those who deserve it. A stage has to be set for future operations so that there is no confusion again (Repa, 2014). The agency must ensure that no excluded career service employee accrues over 240 hours in excess of the regular time. This will enable it to find convenience in complying with the provisions of the Florida Administrative code. In essence, the agency should comply with the code in future by compensating the excluded career service employees for the time worked over the required regular period of 40 hours in a week.
What should the agency do to make things "right" to avoid litigation?
As mentioned earlier, there is no point in letting this matter escalate into a legal battle between the agency and the directors. Such a scenario would cause unhealthy relationship between the two parties, which is not good for the functioning of the departments. To make things right, the agency should go ahead and read the Florida Administrative code 60L-34.0044. This particular code will give the agency propositions on the way to compensate the workers. This code provides that the agency may, upon prior notice, compel the excluded career service employees to use all or just a portion of the employee’s accumulated compensatory leave credits. This code also states that such a requirement by the agency must be in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement involving the affected workers.
Therefore, the agency should invite the directors and require them to use the accumulated compensatory leave credits in portions so that its daily functions are not adversely affected by the absence of the directors. Moreover, it is important that the agency divides the directors into groups for purposes of this compensatory leave credits implementation. The groups should then be allowed to go off work in turns (Perez, 2015).
Conclusion
Since the directors are many, it would be quite detrimental to the functioning of the agency if all them were allowed to go off work at once. However, in the spirit of the FLSA and the Florida Administrative code, the agency should have a meeting with directors and make a collective bargaining agreement on the way this leave credits will be implemented. It is also important for the agency to immediately stop directors from being involved in the extra timer work until all the accumulated compensatory leave credits are used up.
References
Leader, L. E. (2016). How to Evaluate and Investigate a Wage-Hour Claim. Wages & Hours: Law and Practice , 1 .
Perez, T. E. (2015). The Fair Labor Standards Act: A Living Document. Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society , 54 (4), 529-532.
Repa, B. K. (2014). Your rights in the workplace . Berkeley, CA: Nolo.
Torrey, D. B. (2015). Recent developments in workers' compensation and employers' liability law. Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Law Journal , 50 (2), 667.
Walsh, D. J. (2015). Employment law for human resource practice . Toronto: Nelson Education.
