White-collar crime tugs at the bottom line of every company, from mid-sized restaurants and lumberyards to Fortune 100 firms. The cost is staggering, with the average organization losing 6 percent of its annual revenues to employee fraud. The major embezzlers often are high-ranking executives. The top guys are most trusted...
The U.S. Department of Labor DOL March 27 unveiled an ambitious and comprehensive proposal to dramatically overhaul the Fair Labor Standards Act's FLSA "white-collar" exemption regulations. DOL seeks to create many new provisions and eliminate and reorganize existing ones. This article discusses in length various changes, which have been brought...
Chrysler was widely reported today to be cutting 1,000 white-collar jobs, on top of previously announced production cuts, layoffs and job cuts. The way it often works in Detroit is that when blue-collar jobs are cut, white-collar job cuts aren't far behind. The car companies are sensitive to any suggestion...
After having first raised the possibility in 1985, on March 31 the U.S. Department of Labor finally proposed comprehensive changes in the requirements for the Fair Labor Standards Act's so-called "white collar" exemptions. The proposals are not as far-reaching or as straightforward as many would like, but on the whole...
Trade theory consists of a portfolio of models. What elements might be useful in modeling the offshoring of white-collar services, or do these issues call for an entirely fresh approach? This paper identifies some of the important aspects of this phenomenon and then argue that modeling could focus on vertical...
In the world of white-collar work, "Multi-project management" often means "What one must do to successfully execute the chosen portfolio of projects for the department." To the individual white-collar, professional who is dividing time between two projects, "Multi-project management" means juggling appearances to keep two bosses happy at the same...
The perfect resume is not a myth. It has nothing to do with elite schools or incredible work experience. A blue collar worker can have a stellar curriculum vitae and a white collar professional may have a poorly written one. Writing a resume should be about knowing what employers look...
Every organization faces the risk of technically capable, application-facing employees or users who exercise their knowledge of system rules and procedures to "game" systems to commit fraud. Even ethical employees can violate application policies to work around inefficiencies within a system but unwittingly reveal opportunities for damaging errors, misuse, and...
One of the more common issues confronting employers under the federal wage and hour laws involves the ability to treat certain employees as exempt from overtime pay. The most typical exemptions are the white-collar exemptions for executive, administrative, and professional employees. The focus of these exemptions is typically on the...
To understand why outsourcing did not cause wage inequality in the 1970s, this paper builds a dynamic product cycle model with three kinds of labor inputs, scientists, white-collar workers, and blue-collar workers. First, there is only a homogenous representative producer in the model and then the paper allows for producer...
Slate, the online magazine, is running a series of five articles entitled "American Lawbreaking." Sounds like something to check out after seeing the new Jesse James movie, but in fact the articles are much more subtle than six shooters and swagger. They examine "the laws we are allowed to break...
Ashkan Karbasfrooshan submits: Why is Yahoo!’s YHOO management falling apart? Well, for one, the board and its most senior leadership are inept and borderline white-collar criminals. by Ashkan Karbasfrooshan
From the executive summary: ‘The Federal Department of Labor recently issued new regulations governing the so-called “white collar exemptions” under the Fair Labor Standards Act FLSA.’ These rules seek to streamline the job duties and pay policies of all employees of an organization. The paper examines the new regulations.
Most companies today have no idea how to organize for ongoing growth, especially ongoing growth of independent-thinking, white-collar types. Let us say that your goal is to add 200 people to your 400-person company this year decentralize your hiring approach. The article explains the various strategies hiring and retaining good...
Money Morning submits: By Mike Caggeso Embattled carmaker General Motors Corp. GM is planning thousands of additional white-collar job cuts and mulling over the sale off some of its brands, sources told the Wall Street Journal. by Money Morning
The single most reason for not realizing one's longings in life lies in financial restrictions, hence money is an enabler for independence. When one assumes independence from the usual walks of the life of the white collar worker's 9-6-day in the office, one experiences enhanced ease of time. People will...
When the Bush administration first amended FLSA laws, employers reconsidered how to classify workers to ensure compliance with "white collar" exemption regulations (who gets overtime and who doesn't). Apparently, all that classifying didn't do a lot of good because an alarming number of workers are suing for overtime pay at the...
Larry MacDonald submits: It’s one of those days that could reinforce the skeptic’s view of the capitalist system. Four of the ten most-read articles today on the website of the Globe and Mail deal with white-collar crime in the U.S. and Canada: 1. Hundreds swept up in...
This paper discusses the workers' comp premiums. Companies are joining self-insured groups with others in their industries. As a largely white-collar employer, Sherlock, Smith & Adams has never given much thought to its workers' compensation insurance rates. But last year the Montgomery, Ala.-based architecture firm was told that the annual...
The Fair Labor Standards Act FLSA was proposed for determining the ‘white-collar’ exemptions. As per the new regulations imposed by the Act, an employer would not suffer loss of exemption for involuntary deductions from an exempt employee’s salary. The new regulations continue to permit deductions in various circumstances without jeopardizing...
