Must you pay employees for FMLA-related breaks during the work day?

Photo by Liam Stahnke on Unsplash

Last week, the Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division resumed its practice of publishing Opinion Letters. One of the first it published answers an interesting question about the intersection of the FLSA and the FMLA.

Must an employer pay an employee for FMLA-approved breaks taken during the work day?

I’ve taken some journalistic license and paraphrased the questions. The answers, however, are verbatim from the DOL Opinion Letter FLSA2018-19 [pdf].

WIRTW #501 (the “fireflies” edition)

According to a recent study, going to concerts adds years to your life.

If this is true (and who am I to argue with science), then last Thursday should propel me into triple digits.

We went to see our fav, Rhett Miller, who invited Norah to share the stage and duet with him.

I learned 4 things watching Norah:

1. She’s got nerves of steel (which I kind of already knew).
2. Her performance belies her 11 years of age (which is also kind of already knew).
3. She can hold her own with a 30-year veteran of the industry.
4. Thanks to Fake ID, I’m probably on an FBI watchlist.

Thank you Rhett, from Norah (and us, too). You are one of a kind.

Here’s what I read this week:

Anti-harassment anthems

Yesterday, I came across the very cool video for a new Speedy Ortiz song, “Villain.”

The song tackles issue of harassment, assault, and consent.

Rock music has always tackled the important social issues of the times, and #MeToo should be no exception.

The other side of diversity

Photo by Igor Ovsyannykov on Unsplash

Workplace diversity has two sides.

One side says that employers cannot discriminate against minorities. The other says that employers cannot discriminate against non-minorities in favor of minorities.

Some people call this reverse discrimination. I just call it discrimination.

#Me(n)Too

According to the Washington Post, nearly one in five — about 17 percent — of harassment complaints filed with the EEOC come from men.

And many involve same-sex harassment.

Some examples:

Cyclist fired for flipping off Presidential motorcade sues former employer

You may recall Juli Briskman, the biker that flipped the finger to Trump’s passing motorcade, and lost her job after a photo she posted went viral.

Ms. Briskman is not taking her termination lying down. In what appears to be a deep-funded and well-orchestrated campaign, she has filed suit in Virginia state court against her ex-employer.

WIRTW #500 (the “500th” edition)

Photo by Alexas_Fotos, via Pixabay

October 12, 2007. I posted my first ever edition of WIRTW (What I Read This Week). It looked a little different back then.

It’s since morphed into what I hope is a useful weekly resource for employers to find the best labor and employment blog posts each week.

Also, holy heck! Ten and a half years and 499 installments later! Who’d have thunk it‽

Thank to everyone for reading along all these weeks and year, and to the other great bloggers who’ve published content that I’ve shared. I literally could not write this column without y’all.

Here’s this week’s list of what I read this week: