New OT Rules Could Mean More Lawsuits

The recent push by the president to change the country’s overtime rules could limit opportunities, cut down on teleworking…and increase lawsuits.

Dan Fisher notes in Forbes that employers are already worried about wage-and-hour litigation and are erring on the side of caution. For example, some employers don’t allow working through lunch. Others forbid managers from working cash registers, meaning less opportunity for ambitious hourly workers to move into entry-level management positions. Others won’t allow employees to work from home, since it is harder to monitor hours away from the office. These rules are to avoid being sued, but the collateral damage is fewer opportunities, particularly for those in lower-level positions.

In October, ILR released a paper on the growth of wage and hour suits, finding that those claims currently outpace all other forms of workplace litigation.

“Lawyers,” Fisher reminds us, “are exempt from overtime pay.”