Obesity is increasingly affecting workers all over the world. Many organizations realize the need to assess the costs of obesity as it relates to their bottom line. Forward thinking organizations are looking for ways to quantify the magnitude of this challenge and to assess the options and benefits of providing interventions and incentives to better manage the health of their employees.

CDC's Obesity Cost Calculator uses input data provided by human resources or benefits personnel to calculate an estimate of the costs to an organization that are obesity related and to compare the costs and benefits of user-defined interventions targeted at reducing obesity.  The calculator can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/leanworks/costcalculator/index.html

According to statistics, west Michigan (particularly Muskegon County) is ranked worst in several high risk factors such as obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes.  Weight is a big (no pun intended) factor in many of these conditions.  Obesity should be a target area of any wellness plan; however, employers need to tread lightly as weight is a protected class in Michigan.

For more information and resources for your wellness programs please contact Lisa Sabourin (231-759-0916).

This time of the year EA typically receives a number of calls regarding youth employment. In accordance with federal law, no youth under 18 years of age may be employed in any occupation that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has declared hazardous under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Moreover, in Michigan there are requirements for the number of hours and break provisions that employers need to know about.  If you hire minors you must post the required poster.   

Click here for all Federal and State required and contingent posters.

The DOL’s Wage and Hour Division has developed a self assessment tool to help employers comply with the youth employment provisions of the FLSA and the implementing regulations. These rules are designed to protect young workers by restricting the types of jobs they perform and the number of hours they work. The DOL website also has a child labor rules summary section. The self assessment tool is designed solely for the employer’s own internal use and when completed is not to be sent to the DOL. For more information, go to http://www.youthrules.dol.gov/ selfassess_nonAgri.htm.

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires that covered, nonexempt employees in the United States be paid at least the federal minimum wage per hour worked and receive overtime pay at one and one-half times the employee’s regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek. Overtime pay is due on the regular pay day for the period in which the overtime was worked.  The overtime pay requirement may not be waived by agreement between the employer and the employee.  The overtime pay requirement cannot be met through the use of compensatory time off except under special circumstances.

Employers and their employees now have a new tool available courtesy of the U.S. Department of Labor that can be used by either the employer or an employee to check overtime pay calculations. The Fair Labor Standards Act Overtime Calculator Advisor has a number of pages with numerous explanations of FLSA terms as well as a series of questions about pay scales, additional compensation, pay periods and hours worked that the person using the calculator must answer. When the questions have been answered, the calculator provides a detailed and easy to understand outline of what regular pay should be and a calculation of any overtime based on the information provided.

To see the site, go to: www.dol.gov/ elaws/ otcalculator.htm.