The Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the U.S. Department of Labor has launched a new nationwide pilot program, the Payroll Audit Independent Determination (PAID) program. According to the WHD, PAID facilitates resolution of potential overtime and minimum wage violations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The program’s primary objectives are to resolve such claims expeditiously and without litigation, to improve employers’ compliance with overtime and minimum wage obligations, and to ensure that more employees receive the back wages they are owed—faster.
Under the PAID program, employers are encouraged to conduct audits and, if they discover overtime or minimum wage violations, to self-report those violations. Employers may then work in good faith with WHD to correct their mistakes and to quickly provide 100% of the back wages due to their affected employees.
WHD is implementing this self-audit pilot program nationwide for approximately six months. At the end of the pilot period, WHD will evaluate the effectiveness of the pilot program, potential modifications to the program, and whether to make the program permanent.
However there are potential pitfalls to the new program. The Blog Wage & Hour Insights, which I feature quite often in my blogs, has an excellent post by Staci Ketay Rotman, Bill Pokorny and Erin Fowler on this very subject that I encourage you to read to get a better understanding of this new program.
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