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From: Cara Levinson
Email: CaraBLevinson@aol.com
Date: February 07, 2005

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Good morning, everyone! I'd like to start our week by asking that when you post your first message, you identify the name of your center, your position there, and the number of employees at your center. Let's start by examining wage/hour laws. Federal law -- the Fair Labor Standards Act -- sets the floor, state wage and hour laws may provide additional rights and responsibilities. As you know, in August 2003, new regulations were promulgated by the federal Department of Labor (DOL) for the first time in decades. These regulations modified the definitions of what work is considered "exempt" (from overtime) and "non-exempt." For the first time, too, the DOL made clear that any individual making less than $23,600 in base salary annually is entitled to overtime. This means if you call an individual Chief Executive Officer, but she earns $19K/year, she will be entitled to time-and-one-half for any time in excess of 40 hours worked in a week. In my practice, I have found that many small businesses -- daycare centers and preschools among them -- treat too many positions as exempt. Most positions should be classified as non-exempt. How are you classifying your employees?