It’s coming up on time for National Payroll Week 2010 — this year it’s scheduled for September 6–10. And once again, the National Payroll Association is running a survey.

Every year, the survey tracks interesting stats about payroll: how comfortable employees are that their paychecks are correct, how often they get paid, what percentage get direct deposit, and so forth… plus a few fun questions about things like celebrity pay.

All those who complete the survey by 5:00pm (Eastern) on September 10, 2010 will be entered in a drawing to win cash and a 5 day / 4 night trip to Las Vegas. The cash amount is equal to a biweekly paycheck (gross amount), based on the average weekly wages of all workers covered by state and federal unemployment insurance laws for the fourth quarter of 2009.

You can find out more about National Payroll Week by visiting the website, and click the link to take the survey (and get your chance at the prizes).

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Now it looks as though the DOL will no longer be issuing detailed opinion letters in response to specific situations. Instead, they’ll issue “Administrator Interpretations” — in their words, “a general interpretation of the law and regulations, applicable across-the-board to all those affected by the provision in issue.”

To that end, they’ve issued the first such Administrator Interpretation, reaffirming the Division’s long-standing position that mortgage loan officers are not administrative exempt employees.

Here’s what the DOL has to say about their reasoning behind moving away from opinion letters to these new broader “Interpretations”:

In order to provide meaningful and comprehensive guidance and compliance assistance to the broadest number of employers and employees, the Wage and Hour Administrator will issue Administrator Interpretations when determined, in the Administrator’s discretion, that further clarity regarding the proper interpretation of a statutory or regulatory issue is appropriate… Guidance in this form will be useful in clarifying the law as it relates to an entire industry, a category of employees, or to all employees. The Administrator believes that this will be a much more efficient and productive use of resources than attempting to provide definitive opinion letters in response to fact-specific requests submitted by individuals and organizations, where a slight difference in the assumed facts may result in a different outcome.

Going forward, if you request an opinion letter, they’ll point you to the relevant laws and regulations, but won’t provide specific advice. They also say they’ll retain those opinion letter requests to help them determine which topics are confusing a lot of people and might need an “Interpretation.”

If you still want more specific answers and advice, the DOL advises you can talk to a Wage and Hour Division representative personally, either by going to the nearest WHD office, or by calling the Division’s toll-free help line at 1-866-4USWAGE (1-866-487-9243). Telephone help is available weekdays from 8:00am until 8:00pm (Eastern).

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They’re looking particularly at compliance with minimum wage, overtime and child labor regulations. (These are areas where many restaurants have typically fallen short of the mark in the past.)

You have been warned.

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Apparently, Colorado ties its minimum wage to inflation, same as something like nine other states. But unlike most other states, with a decrease in the cost of living, Colorado’s law allows a corresponding decrease in the minimum wage.

Keep in mind, the federal minimum wage still stands at $7.25 an hour, so even though the Colorado law sets a lower minimum, employers in the state will have to abide by the higher number. And, of course, employers aren’t obligated to reduce wages just because the minimum has gone down.

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It’s almost that time again — National Payroll Week 2009 is set for September 7 – 11.

You can find more information and take the 2009 “Getting Paid in America” survey at the National Payroll Week website. Complete the survey and you could win a free paycheck and a trip to Las Vegas. Sweet!

At the website, you’ll also find suggestions of how to celebrate National Payroll Week, resources to help you make sure you’re getting the most out of your paycheck, handy payroll calculators and more. Definitely worth a visit.

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NETtime is a web-based time and attendance system targeting small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs). The system, which is available by monthly subscription, offers an array of time and attendance features including multiple data entry options, benefit time accruals and interfaces with popular HRIS and payroll applications and services.

Interestingly (well, interestingly to me, at least) is that — while the NETtime website says the company’s flagship product is targeted toward SMBs, the press release mentions clients such as Delta Air Lines, F.A.O. Schwarz and Aramark. Maybe their definition of “mid-sized” is more liberal than mine…

Anyway, I don’t think this will make much difference to current customers of NETtime, except that, now they’ve got new owners, the company is apparently planning a big customer recruitment push — saying their “poised” to double their customer base this year — and preparing to release what they call “a powerful upgrade” in early 2010.

Party on, dudes.

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In her remarks following her swearing-in, Ms. Solis promised “tough enforcement, transparency, cooperation and balance,” saying, “Let me be clear, there is a new sheriff in town.”

Two sections within the DOL that are slated for big increases under the new federal budget are the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Wage and Hour Division (the division that investigates, among other things, violations of minimum wage and overtime provisions of the law).

What does this mean for us? Well, if you’re a small-business owner who’s been counting on getting away with FLSA violations by simply flying under the radar — assuming you’re “too small” for the DOL to worry about, or counting on lax oversight to let you get by with it — you might want to rethink that tactic.

And if you’re not sure where you stand with FLSA compliance, now’s the time to get yourself set up. For starters:

• Make sure you have a good time and attendance tracking system in place (preferably something a bit more robust than hand-written timesheets, although to be sure those are better than nothing). There are no excuses for this, even during hard times. Especially during hard times, when fines and penalties for inaccurate or inadequate records can be devastating to a small business. You can get excellent professional-quality software for less than $100 or a sturdy, reliable employee punch clock for less than $300, so go out there and find something that meets your needs, install it, and use it. You may find it actually saves you time and money on payroll preparation, which is a nice bonus. In fact, most people who install automated computer-based time and attendance find the savings on payroll prep mean the system pays for itself in a matter of months. Sweeeet.
• Conduct a thorough labor audit, preferably in conjunction with your attorney (attorney-client privilege will help keep the results of your audit being used against  you if you find any problems). And fix any issues the audit uncovers, of course.
• Verify that your employee handbook (if you have one) doesn’t set you up for lawsuits by inadvertently establishing an employment contract between you and your employees (check with your attorney to make sure you’re in the clear on this).

No point in antagonizing the new sheriff and her deputies right off the bat, eh?

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Depending on who you listen to, this is either an economic disaster or the best thing to happen all year. I’m guessing it won’t be either one — businesses and workers will pretty much carry on as usual. Check back in six months to see who was right.

And a second reminder, just in case: states can overrule the federal minimum wage, but only if the state-mandated minimum wage is higher. So if your state has enacted a minimum wage of higher than $6.55 an hour, you need to pay the state minimum. But no matter what, you can’t pay less than the federal minimum for hourly non-tipped workers.

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At 2:00pm (Eastern) on May 14, 2008, The Institute of Management and Administration, Inc. (IOMA) will present an audioconference entitled Overtime Rules: Are You SURE You’re Compliant?

The audioconference will be led by Vicki M. Lambert, President and Academic Director of Vicki M. Lambert, LLC, a firm specializing in payroll education and training. A Certified Payroll Professional (CPP) and Certified Payroll Manager, Ms. Lambert has over 29 years of multi-state payroll experience and has written or contributed to numerous books and publications.

So, bottom line, it sure sounds as though she knows what she’s talking about! If you’re at all concerned about whether your overtime policies and practices are potentially going to get you in trouble with the DOL, you owe it to yourself (and your employees) to attend this 90-minute presentation. C’mon, it’s easy… all you need is a phone.

Unfortunately, the audioconference isn’t free (and even more unfortunately, I don’t get a cut of anything for recommending it to you — I do this out of the goodness of my heart), but the price is reasonable and with judicious use of a speaker phone, you can have as many people from your office attend as you’d like, at no extra charge.

There are downloadable handouts (which you can copy for others in your office), and you can even order a recording of the event on CD to save for posterity, and for later review by yourself and others. If you attend the conference and order the recording, you get a pretty big discount on the recording. You can just order the recording (useful if for some reason you won’t be available during the time frame of the “live” audioconference), but you’ll miss out on the opportunity to ask questions. Yep, there will be a live Q&A session as part of the conference.

The Timekeeper says, check it out!

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1. Calculating Overtime: Feb. 10 Webinar

“We are excited about the opportunity to combine two companies that have a rich tradition of providing easy-to-use solutions, excellent customer service and competitive pricing,” said Les Goldstein, the new CEO of Ascentis.

The new company will have more than 1,500 clients and will provide HR and payroll services for more than 400,000 employees. Services offerings include benefits management and complete payroll processing.

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