A small business has questions about how he is paying his hourly employees.  He visits an "E-law" website to confirm that he is paying his hourly employees properly under the law. He determines that his pay practices do comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) guidelines. But - OOPS - an employee subsequently sues for failing to receive payment for all hours worked plus overtime. The employer argued that by using the E-Law website he met his burden of proof to show that he "acted in good faith reliance on U.S. Department of Labor regulations to comply with the FLSA."  The court considered this and the FLSA's regulatory definition of a "willful" violation of the FLSA, "if the employer either knew or showed reckless disregard for...whether this conduct was prohibited by the statute." So what did the court decide? Did the business owner show reckless disregard by using this "E-law" website?  It's worse than that! The court noted that the business owner "did not consult an attorney or the Department of Labor. Instead he went to an 'E-Law' website."  That combined with the fact that the business owner did fail to pay for all time worked plus overtime lead the court to find the business owner's conduct was a willful violation of the FLSA to the tune of $36,265.

Lessons Learned?  Free resources are great.  According to this court, an HR professional or business owner may want to regularly give consideration to guidance from the federal agency that enforces the issue on which they have a question.  Then legal guidance might supplement that to ensure the federal guidance is consistent with any state or local laws or regulations that might apply.  The US Department of Labor has a list of Fact Sheets on myriad topics.  The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission offers similar information with Policy Guidance also by topic.