Job Description

Overtime

As most employers are aware, federal law differentiates between employees who are owed overtime pay (non-exempt employees) and those who are not owed overtime pay (exempt employees). Exempt positions are excluded from minimum wage, overtime regulations, and other rights and protections afforded under the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Employers must pay a salary rather than an hourly wage for a position for it to be exempt. Non-exempt positions are those that are not exempt from FLSA requirements. Employees who fall within this category must be paid at least the federal minimum wage for each hour worked and are paid overtime pay of not less than one and a half times their hourly rate for any hours worked beyond 40 each week.

What many employers do not know is that overtime liability can be linked to an employee's duties as they are described in his or her job description, not according to what tasks the employee actually performs. For example, suppose you decide that one of your managers' should occupy and office closer to the production department. If that manager comes in to pack or move boxes over the weekend, the employer may be liable for overtime—even if the employee is exempt—because packing and moving are not part of the employee's usual job activities. This principle applies to any tasks not normally performed by the employee, or to tasks that are not directly related to his or her normal job. The important issue to consider isn't whether the activity is a one-time event, but whether the task relates to the employee's usual job duties.

Employee Dismissals

Small business owners that decide to terminate an employee for poor performance have to make sure that they are doing so because of their dissatisfaction with the targeted employee's work on tasks that are discussed in the job description. Otherwise, the employ may have some legal basis upon which to challenge the dismissal.

USING AND MAINTAINING JOB DESCRIPTIONS

Job descriptions can be valuable business resources when used correctly. But many companies do not take full advantage of these documents, either because they are ignorant of their possibilities or because of company-wide perceptions that they are of limited use. There are several factors that can limit the effectiveness of these documents:

• Managers unfamiliar with purpose and usage of job descriptions.
• Vague, inaccurate, outdated, or incomplete job descriptions.
• Managers not motivated to utilize job descriptions.
• Job descriptions arranged in format that is not standardized or friendly to managers or employees.
• Job in question "escapes definition" because of fluidity, variety of tasks, etc.

Entrepreneurs and managers, then, need to attend to all of these potential pitfalls when creating job descriptions for their workforce. In addition, human resource management experts hasten to point out that job descriptions are only effective if they are subject to continuous review and revision.

1. Continuous updating—Each employee's job description should be amended as his or her duties change. One commonly overlooked aspect of this requirement is that employers should react quickly when an employee quits or is terminated. In such instances, each task formerly carried out by the ex-employee should be formally reassigned in writing to another person's job description.
2. Proper classification—Employers who remain cognizant of job descriptions and classifications when assigning various tasks are far less likely to get tripped up on overtime hassles than businesses that are careless about such issues.
3. Communication—In addition to regularly scheduled performance reviews, employers should make sure that employees who find their duties and responsibilities undergoing change have the opportunity to ask questions—and even raise objections.

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