Federal compliance: FLSA, USCIS-I9

Federal law imposes the threat of extremely large fines on all employers. The risks for failure to collect documented compliance with labor and immigration law is common between both public and private employers. Snow and Ice schedule work week variations expensively complicate legally compliant payroll accounting. 

Federal, state and local income tax laws place burden of proof on all employers for accurate payroll accounting, reflecting a special emphasis on tax revenue collections that tends to follow the path of least economic resistance: income of waged labor.  There is constant friction and pre-emption between levels and jurisdictions in government about taxes. Tax revenue is not always raised based on the size of an area or kind of economic activity, but ultimately all depends on where and from whom, or from what, proves easiest to impose tax collection fiats and statutes. 

Wage and Hour laws are enforced by the US Department of Labor (DOL). In January of 2019, the DOL increased the penalty for a single classification error to more than $2000 per offense.  

To stay in compliance with changes in federal laws, Wage and hour records of employer payrolls the State of MN, MMB-HR, MnDOT must continuously and accurately classify, track, summate and blend several employee time and benefit accrual payroll tracking systems. Not just state governments, but all employers, both public and private. Statutory regulatory burdens on employer payroll might seem like less likely enforced on government employers, where tax statutes originate, perhaps because of a perception tax law enforcement actions rarely if ever happen inside government itself. 

MnDOT annually revises special snow and ice policies, and according to AFSCME's statewide agreement the employer, at state and local levels, may issue necessary seasonal policies to abridge the AFSCME State bargaining agreement -- because there is typically each winter over $100M of unpredictable road maintenance business reasons  to do so.  In labor law, in the laws all employers follow to avoid fines for non-compliance (or worse, accusations of fraud!) the definition of what is defined as a “workweek” is simplified to be consistent from week to week — but reality differs greatly from this scope presumed in statute.  During seasonal and climatic weather extremes, such as winter's all-hands-on-deck snowstorm weather events, federal funding for road and highways remain contingent on proving in winter, roads are being consistently maintained safely clear to bare pavement.  The reality is seasonal and other unforseen workweek duration variablities, at unknown times paid time is less easily accrued according to some arbitrary or variable 7-day period, there are circumstances when it never is a simple “Monday through Friday”.   

Indefinite, fix-length workweek schedules at MnDOT may explain why all published AFSCME contract grids erroneously mislabel wages as "salaries"
Are AFSCME state employees classifications unambiguously being clarified`in every reference, in the state contract?  Published pay grids for the Statewide agreement, in grid titles and notation, make no mention of wages but refer to "hourly and monthly salaries".  When referring to these oddly mislabelled grids, it is not difficult for a new waged (exempt) employee to get the mistaken impression they as AFSCME have eligibility for meal and lodging per diems, as if salaried and exempt, then contrary to law, see or think they are also eligibile to receive x1.5 OT pay, as if waged and non-exempt.  
At $2000 per DOL offence, not likely to happen!  There are 3 tests that must be met for an employee to qualify as “exempt”:
1. They must be paid a fixed, invariant and constant salary each pay period,
2. They must be paid a minimum salary level (currently set at $684/week or $35,568/year),
3. They must meet the job duty requirements for being classified as an Administrator, Executive, or Professional  (other exceptions exist, but these are the most common exemptions affecting CEDR Members and healthcare professionals).
 

i9 forms: Employer's have burden, at risk of extreme fines, to document each of their employees has any "right to work" within the United States
It is on employers to challenge employees to prove their resident citizenship status by being asked to submit a USCIS-I9 form (along with either passport or DL and SS or DL and Birth Certificate) for compliance with the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act. The I9 form expires every 10 years. By policy MnDOT does not normally offer positions to non-nativist guest workers who require visas. Some state employees may not have received, within each 10 year interval, a documented challenge by the employer about citizenship as required, and even if an i-9 form was properly submitted, the length of this form has been increasing over time. And proper i-9 documentation, for every state employee, may not have been reflected thoughout all records, both written hardcopy and electronic.
At the State Employee Self-service Center, employees can quickly find leave balances, but also find a way for state employees to claim they have proof of citizenship, by making a signed and dated attestation, that establishes their legal right to work in the U.S.A.