A recent WatchGuard study found that nearly one-third of malware attacks were new or zero day - that is, they cannot be detected by traditional, signature-matching antivirus solutions. Indeed, the security community looks first to other defenses, such as keeping software security patches up to date.īut conventional antivirus software now faces another challenge. Security professionals, by contrast, have long understood that this applied to only one layer of protection and was by no means the most crucial. The employer must also issue a policy forbidding unauthorized overtime, just to be on record with that.For much of the general public, including the enterprise world, security protection is synonymous with antivirus software. I am all about closing loopholes that employees try to climb through in efforts to sue their employers for allegedly unpaid wages. This could be a real landmine for unwary employers. This has two salutary benefits the first is that employees get paid for bona fide work they did and, secondly, of equal importance, it provides employers with a built-in defense in case outrageous (or inflated) claims of work hours are made.Įmployers must be proactive and come up with a procedure to track this unscheduled time. She noted that employers need to develop a mechanism by which employees can report this off-the-clock work and seek approval for its payment. One commentator has suggested that employers be aware that such claims may arise and that employers need to develop protocols that prevent these claims from arising in the first place. Today’s guidance is one more tool the Wage and Hour Division is putting forward to ensure that workers are paid all the wages they have earned, and that employers have all the tools they need as they navigate what may, for many, be uncharted waters of managing remote workers.” She noted that “due to the coronavirus pandemic, more Americans are teleworking and working variable schedules than ever before to balance their jobs with a myriad of family obligations, such as remote learning for their children and many others. The Administrator made clear that although this guidance dealt with the issues raised by the new teleworking environment businesses find themselves in, it also applies to other kinds of telework or working remotely arrangements. The employer may have access to records showing (possibly) that the worker was doing work outside of scheduled hours, such as data showing when company issued computers or electronic devices were logged onto or utilized. The Wage Hour Administrator offered the following observation on this reporting procedure by asserting that “if an employee fails to report unscheduled hours worked through such a procedure, the employer is generally not required to investigate further to uncover unreported hours.” The obligation of the employer is to pay for unscheduled time when the employer knows the time was worked. The thrust of the advice is that employers must allow employees report work they performed but which was not originally scheduled. The agency has done this through the vehicle of publishing a Field Assistance Bulletin to agency field personnel. The USDOL has now assisted in this endeavor, as it issued guidance for the tracking of unscheduled work hours. There are situations, however, that arise regarding unanticipated work and how employers should track and pay for this. telecommuting, and how employers must carefully keep track of their hours to avoid unauthorized overtime. I have written several times about employees working from home, e.g.
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