Preventing A Messy "Failed Exemption" Lawsuit

In recent years employers have become all too familiar with lawsuits alleging violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). According to the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, there were more than 7,000 FLSA federal lawsuits filed in 2012, and 2013 was similar. Many of these lawsuits include claims that the employee was "misclassified" as exempt from the FLSA's overtime-pay requirements.

In the face of these statistics, employers should not just blindly hope that they have classified their employees correctly. Instead, you should proactively plan ahead for the possibility of such litigation and begin now to build the evidence you will need to prove an exemption in court.