Hackers leak walmart's guide to silencing workers.

[O Really]

My daughter works at WalMart and starts getting paid the moment she gets in her car and drives to the store and back, plus she gets paid mileage.

Surely not for normal commute. I'd find that hard to believe unless her entire job is hi-tech and on-call

She is a pharmacist and travels to about 5 different stores in Nashville and surrounding areas, as the need arises. Some are up to 1 1/2 hours away. I might be wrong, but I think the travel pay applies to all locations.

That would explain it the pay from doorstep and the mileage. And that she's a pharmacist. As I mentioned, Wal-Mart life above the serf level is pretty good.

[O Really]

The last time the overtime and exemption rules were changed was in 2004, and before that change the minimum amount required for exemption was actually below the minimum wage, rendering that part of the regulation moot. Currently, the minimum salary to be considered exempt is $455/week, but there are other requirements relating to specific duties, too - it's not just the pay. However those "duties" requirements for supervisors are pretty easy to appear to meet.

[O Really]

I listened to a radio report about how many of these so-called "managers" spend 90% or more of their time doing menial tasks like busing tables, mopping, check-out, etc.

Yeppers.
But that's not because the regulation isn't sufficient. That's because the employers are sleazebags. To qualify for the exemption applicable to supervisors, you're supposed to "supervise" two or more full-time employees, and perform many or most of some "management" activities, like having some authority on hiring, termination, work assignments, training, compensation, discipline, etc. Those who spend a significant part of their day doing the same job as those they "supervise" are not, according to the reg, exempt.

[Boatrocker]

I listened to a radio report about how many of these so-called "managers" spend 90% or more of their time doing menial tasks like busing tables, mopping, check-out, etc.

Yeppers.
But that's not because the regulation isn't sufficient. That's because the employers are sleazebags. To qualify for the exemption applicable to supervisors, you're supposed to "supervise" two or more full-time employees, and perform many or most of some "management" activities, like having some authority on hiring, termination, work assignments, training, compensation, discipline, etc. Those who spend a significant part of their day doing the same job as those they "supervise" are not, according to the reg, exempt.

Regulation is a fucking joke.

[Boatrocker]

Essentially. Regulations- even if strident and far reaching- are no better than enforcement. If any. So, let's say that DoL enforcement is a fucking joke.

[O Really]

The number of wage-hour lawsuits (and DOL charges) exceed the total of all other labor violations (including discrimination for race, sex, etc.) combined, and have for more than ten years. In the past 4 years, DOL has added investigators and enhanced targeted enforcement. But the thing is, it doesn't matter what DOL does because an employee doesn't have to go through them. Unlike a discrimination charge where they have to file with the EEOC first, with a wage-hour violation, they can go straight to litigation (or threatened litigation). There are plaintiff attorneys all over who specialize in wage-hour, and it costs the employee nothing because the employer will end up being assessed attorney fees. And the winning percentage of wage-hour suits for plaintiffs is way above that of employers. Wage-hour is the easiest employment lawsuit for a plaintiff to win, and, as a conundrum, also the easiest for an employer to avoid.

[O Really]

Sorry that I was unclear. My question was really directed at O Really's last post.

O Really will know better than me but I believe that DoL has been tremendously hobbled by years of limiting legislation and adverse court rulings stretching back to the Reagan Administration.

Resources and leadership more than anything else. The Reagans of the world will appoint a Secretary of Labor that, (for example) wants to "limit gummint," and doesn't give them much support or budget. The professionals (non-politically appointed) are left trying to keep an umbrella right side out in a hurricane. The Obamas of the world will give them a more enthusiastic Secretary, and more resources, but still insufficient.