7. Understandably, there may be some confusion initially for those employees who move from exempt to nonexempt status. I suggest that you meet individually with each affected employee when the first two or three paychecks are issued, to review it with the employee and determine whether or not she or he has any questions or concerns. The objective is to comply in a manner that minimizes employee confusion. This approach can reduce the risk of an employee taking a wage and hour issue to either the Department of Labor or a plaintiff’s attorney. 8. DOL believes that at least 750,000 exempt employees are misclassified—they do not perform exempt work. Review your exemptions—even if the pay meets the new mini- mum, do employees qualify based on their job duties?


Although overall employment litigation has declined during the past several years, wage and hour litigation has in- creased substantially from 6,335 lawsuits filed during 2011 to 8,781 lawsuits filed during 2016. The United States Depart- ment of Labor last year received 22,000 individual employee complaints about pay. During Fiscal Year 2015 (September 30), DOL obtained $246 million in back pay for 240,000 employees. If you think that a little more than $1,000.00 per employee is not much, multiply that by the number of individuals you have employed during the past two to three years, double it, and add interest and the plaintiffs’ attorney fees and you will very quickly get into six figures. Therefore,


use the opportunity for the exemption compensation review to determine whether employees are properly classified as exempt and whether employee overtime, break time, meal time, and travel time are handled properly. The changes to the exemption salary levels should be considered in the broader context of the national focus on pay. Whether it is the “Fight for 15” effort, pay equity or sufficiency of pay—our national discourse is focusing on employee compensation. Therefore, be sure your company is in compliance with Wage and Hour requirements. Note that state and city wage and hour requirements may be more stringent than under federal law, such as mandatory break times and mandatory daily overtime. Please contact me if you have questions. 7


Phone consultations with LMVT are a member benefit and are included in the cost of NALP membership. Please call the LMVT main office at 205-326-3002 and ask for either Richard Lehr or Frank Rox if you have any questions concerning this article. Frank Rox may also be reached at 404-312-4755.


Y “From the Hill” continued from p.34


ther regulate pesticides or fertilizers in over a dozen states. We defeated several aggressive attempts to ban the use of neonicotinoid pesticides de- spite aggressive legislative campaigns led by anti-pesticide activists. We continue to work with members at the local level to help ensure that our nation’s communities adopt common sense and science based pesticide and fertilizer regulations.


FIGHTING A “TURF” BATTLE In partnership with the GreenScapes Alliance we are working for the inclu- sion of natural turf as a recognized element of sustainably designed sites.


Current language in the environmen- tal and energy codes and standards promulgated by the International Codes Council, American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Condi- tioning Engineers, and United States Green Building are unfairly biased against the use of turf. In fact, they currently have language that limits the use of turf grass despite its inherent ability to filter the air, limit erosion, prevent run-off, and naturally cool the environment. Sounds pretty environ- mentally friendly right? Which is why we are actively working with leader- ship at each of these organizations to better educate them on the benefits of turf and to develop new language that does not place limitations on its use.


ENGAGING OUR MEMBERS Finally, what good are our advo- cacy efforts if they don’t focus on the issues that matter to you most? Because of this, we strive to ensure that what we advocate for best aligns with your interests, and we aim to keep you informed about what is happening and how we need your help. Our goal is to develop an advo- cacy and engagement culture that is member-driven and well defined. No one knows the landscape and lawn care profession better than you, and so your involvement in advocacy is an integral ingredient for success. 7


NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LANDSCAPE PROFESSIONALS


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