There’s no way to stop people from making claims, but there are ways to defend yourself and it’s through meticulous timekeeping. It is through training your supervisors not to cut any corners. If somebody has actually worked more than eight hours in a day or more than forty hours in a week, document it. If somebody can prove they’ve worked more than forty hours in a week, pay them. The consequences can be quite severe.

 Not only do you have to pay them the overtime you didn’t pay them, but under federal law you have to pay them liquidated damages in an amount equal to the overtime that you missed plus the counsel fees. A real problem with the Fair Labor Standards Act, which is the federal ways in our law, is that you can be held personally responsible and not just your company. It really gets you to pay attention to the Fair Labor Standards Act and the New Jersey Wage & Hour Act and treat your employees according to law.