Chad Frasier, district director for the Wage and Hour Division in Denver, says that the restaurant industry has been targeted because of past performance by similar businesses.

"The industry typically pays relatively low wages and employs workers who may not be aware of their rights under the FLSA, or how to complain when those rights are violated," he said. "Many of them are recent immigrants to this country and may not speak English; some of them are simply young and new to the workforce."

The goal, according to Frasier, is as much to inform restaurant owners of the standards they must maintain as it is to redress back pay issues.

Over the next year, the initiative "will seek to bring employers into compliance for the future and get back wages paid to workers where they are found due," said Frasier. "Even those workers who do not receive back wages will benefit by having a more informed employer and being more informed themselves."

Typically, small businesses without fully developed human resource capacities can run afoul of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which covers such standards as minimum wage, overtime and child labor.

Even larger businesses often misclassify their employers and end up being slapped with past-due overtime bills once the WHD gets alerted and begins proceedings.

Stay clear of WHD fines and legal actions by getting a copy and following the advice in Personnel Concepts’  FLSA Overtime Rules Compliance Kit.

Plans also call for adding another 90 inspectors to the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) after the addition of 250 in fiscal 2010. WHD inspectors check out employee claims of unpaid overtime, minimum wage violations and other wage disputes.

Along with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which is auditing 6,000 businesses in the next three years over the misclassification of employees, DOL agents also will be looking for cases of employers labeling employees independent contractors to avoid their share of payroll taxes (as well as paying benefits).

Another trap: Employers often misclassify employees as exempt when in fact they are non-exempt and subject to overtime pay. Avoid this trap by getting a copy of Personnel Concepts’ FLSA Overtime Rules Compliance Kit and then properly classifying–and paying–your employees.