RMGA SCHOLARSHIPS & APPRENTICESHIPS
This January, RMGA sent all Utah’s College and High School Career Counselors colorful posters that advertise $8000 in scholarships available to motivated individuals interested in pursuing careers in HVACR. Opportunities abound in the HVACR industries that are both profitable and rewarding for students that are interested in working in a stable industry with good starting wages and upward mobility. The posters highlight: • $8000 in Scholarship Money • Apprenticeship Program • Tuition Reimbursement • and Paid Factory Training. Hang A Poster In Your Shop! Call Sloane at 801-367-8008 to Order Them.
MUST YOU PAY EMPLOYEES FOR COMMUTE? SOMETIMES, YES
If you think you never have to start paying employees until they arrive at their official job site, or first appointment, think again. While it’s true that you don’t normally have to compensate employees for their home-to-job commute, you may have to pay for their travel time if your organization imposes restrictions on that commute or requires them to stop along the way. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) says travel time is considered paid work time if it’s part of the employee’s “principal activity” and is benefits the employer. As a recent court ruling shows, organizations that impose even minimal requirements on employees – such as filling up the company vehicle at a particular gas station or stopping at a supply house on the drive home from work – can turn normal commuting time into compensable time under the FLSA. That’s true even if the company-required “pit stop” doesn’t lengthen the employee’s commute. Bottom line: Be wary of placing any restrictions on the manner in which employees travel to the work site unless you’re prepared to pay for that time.
Case in point: Whenever field engineers for Hillsborough County, FL, needed to take work trucks to job sites, they’d first drive their own cars to the county parking garage and pick up the trucks. The county didn’t pay engineers for their time spent driving the county trucks to the first work site of the day, reasoning that it was unpaid “commuting time.” The engineers disagreed, saying the drive from the county parking lot to the first job site was truly “work time.” They sued for back wages under the FLSA and overtime pay and won. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that making the engineers stop at the garage at the beginning and end of the day was “an inconvenient detour for the employees who, at the end of the workday, could not drive directly home.” That inconvenience turned the unpaid commuting time into compensable time. (Burton v. Hillsborough County, No. 10247, 11th Cir.)
Final tip: This case underscores how federal courts are becoming more serious about assuring hourly workers are paid for all time that benefits the employer. Just last year, theU.S. Supreme Court ruled that hourly workers must by paid for time spent putting on protective safety gear and walking to and from their workstations.
