August 29, 2008 - Modern Distribution Management

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August 29, 2008

Fastenal Agrees to Settlement in Wage-Hour Case

Industrial and construction supplies distributor Fastenal Company, Winona, MN, has agreed to settle a class action wage-hour lawsuit that claims Fastenal misclassified Fastenal employees as assistant managers and as a result those employees were denied overtime as required under the Fair Labor Standards Act and several state statutes.
 
Two former employees originally filed the suit against Fastenal on Oct. 18, 2007. Fastenal has agreed to pay $10 million in cash to cover claims by eligible class members, plaintiff attorneys' fees and costs and payments to named plaintiffs. The settlement is still subject to court approval.
 
The distributor denies the allegations in the lawsuit, but says it has agreed to enter the settlement to avoid significant legal fees, the ...

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The Sticky Areas of the Fair Labor Standards Act

Fastenal has announced an agreement to settle a wage-hour lawsuit filed against it toward the end of 2007. Wage-hour law can be a tricky area for employers, as we reported in our premium content newsletter back in October when the lawsuit was filed. In light of Fastenal's settlement, it's probably worth revisiting that report.
 
One lawyer from the national employment law firm Fisher &Phillips told me at that time that it's not unusual to see legal problems arise from confusion over the exemption status of certain workers, as Fastenal has recently seen. So-called "white-collar" exemptions depend in part on what kind of work the employee is ...

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Canadian Industrial Prices Index Rises 0.4% in July

Source: Statistics Canada

The Canadian price indexes for manufactured goods and raw materials registered lower monthly growth in July than in the previous four months, increasing 0.4% and 1.4% respectively, primarily as a result of the slowdown in the rise of petroleum prices.

From June to July, prices charged by Canadian manufacturers, as measured by the Industrial Product Price Index (IPPI), rose 0.4%, down from the average monthly growth rate of 1.5% observed from March to June. The increase in the index in July was almost entirely attributable to a 2.4% rise in the prices for petroleum and coal products, which was the lowest rate in five months.

The prices for products other than petroleum and coal ...

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New Orders Rise 1.3% in July

New orders for manufactured durable goods in July increased $2.9 billion or 1.3% to $219.3 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced. This was the third consecutive monthly increase and followed a 1.3% June increase. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 0.7%. Excluding defense, new orders increased 2.8%.
 
Shipments of manufactured durable goods in July, up three of the last four months, increased $5.3 billion or 2.5% to $218.3 billion. This followed a 0.9% June increase.
 
Unfilled orders for manufactured durable goods in July, up 29 of the last 30 months, increased $6.6 billion or 0.8% to $824.4 billion. This was also at the highest level since the series was first stated on a NAICS basis in 1992 and followed a 0.9% June ...

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