No Wages For Time Spent Donning Safety Clothing 

Union employees for a poultry processing business were not entitled to compensation under the Fair Labor Standards Act for time spent donning and doffing protective clothing, a Court has ruled. The employer’s payment method compensated workers based on when chickens to be processed reached the production line. Employees were paid based upon when the first and last chickens reached the production line. The employees were required to wear various articles of protective clothing, and they had to before the line-time began in order to don the clothing and to remain after line-time ended to take off the clothing. The court ruled the FLSA “excludes from the definition of ‘hours worker’. . .’time spent in changing clothing or washing at the beginning or end or each workday which was excluded from measured working time during the week involved by the express terms of or by custom or practice under a bona fide collective-bargaining agreement..” 

Owner Of Single Member LLC That Did Not Elect To Be Taxed As A Sub-S Corporation Is Liable For Unpaid Employment Taxes 

The owner of a limited liability company could be personally liable for unpaid employment taxes, the 2^nd Federal Circuit Court has ruled in affirming judgment. The Plaintiff was the sole owner of an accounting firm that was organized as a limited liability company. The firm went out of business without having paid any payroll taxes to the federal government in the final 18 months of its existence. Under Treasury regulations, an individual who is the sole owner of a limited liability company has the option of electing to have his business being classified either as an “association,” which is defined as a corporation, or as a “sole proprietorship” that is to be “disregarded as an entity separate from its owner.” Here, the Plaintiff had elected not to have his firm treated as a corporation. Accordingly, the IRS disregarded the firm as a separate entity and assessed $65,000 in unpaid employment taxes against the Plaintiff personally.

Medical Group Pays $3 Million To End Over Billing Probe

A medical group has agreed to pay $3 million in penalties for over billing more than 11,000 patients, federal Medicare and state programs since the 1990’s. Two former billing employees blew the whistle on the medical group which consisted of 42 cardiologists with 20 offices and clinics. Under the settlements, the company must pay $1.7 million in civil penalties and refund $1.2 million to 11,220 patients and to order insurance providers.

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WHAT IS, HOW CAN YOU AND WHY YOU SHOULD GET A TRADEMARK FOR YOUR BUSINESS