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Comment by larrys | Hacker News Reader

As I've put in my other comment elsewhere I got hit with a DOL action many years ago. It definitely wasn't willful but we were running afoul of some hidden rule that even some lawyers had never heard of and didn't know about. One employee complained, they investigated and audited, and we got fined and had to pay back wages. I'm not commenting on why or what linkedin did only providing perspective that it can happen for less nefarious reasons.

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I'm curious about your story. Did the employee not complain to management prior to involving DOL? If the employee did, what happened that the employee's complaint was not accurately assessed and resolved? And if the employee did not, do you have an idea of why?

I mean these as honest questions. The law is complicated, and it's easy to accidentally run afoul of some provision somewhere while acting in good faith. Outside of retribution, it's preferable to resolve these situations amicably. It's faster for the employee and less risky for the business. So when I hear these kinds of stories, I like to identify where the breakdown happened. Was it a bad hire? A broken reporting process? A failure of the lawyers to assess the claim?

"Did the employee not complain to management prior to involving DOL?"

Definitely not. Was a small company so I would have known.

"And if the employee did not, do you have an idea of why?"

I think they were probably upset about something else. One interesting thing was the DOL office was a mere 2 blocks from our office. Perhaps that played into it.

(More detail in my other reply)

Interesting perspective. It's unfortunate that you can get bit even when trying to play fair. Even if LinkedIn's mistake was similarly unwitting, we should try to learn something from it. Maybe the rules have become too complex, or maybe more guidance is needed to help employers stay within the lines.

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