Employers Can't Ignore Wage Laws In Hurricane Sandy's Wake

John Thompson, a partner in the Atlanta office and editor of the firm's Wage & Hour Laws Blog, was quoted in the November 1 Law360 article "Employers Can't Ignore Wage Laws In Hurricane Sandy's Wake." The article stressed that whatever else employers across the East Coast whose businesses have been disrupted by Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath are dealing with right now, they must also make sure that they are still paying their workers properly and complying with their recordkeeping obligations. Wage-and-hour laws include no exceptions for emergencies. John noted: "One question that employers ask is 'do we still have to pay overtime given everything else that has happened? And the answer is yes. If your employees work it, you have to pay it." He reminded employers to take into consideration how wage-and-hour laws vary from state to state. "Maybe you are a multistate business that has had experience with hurricanes in the Southeastern U.S., but wage-and-hour policies and practices that passed muster under the FLSA and those places might or might not be sufficient in the Northeast, so you have just got to take state and local law into account."