Here’s where good companies run into trouble. They –

• Work short-handed while employees are out sick

• Shut their doors because viruses like H1N1 prevent people coming to work, or

• Send everyone home to telework in an attempt to prevent illnesses from spreading.

Whatever plans your company makes to continue operations could inadvertently cause it to run afoul of the Fair Labor Standards Act. To ensure you remain in compliance, follow the U.S. Department of Labor guidelines:

1. Employers aren’t obligated to pay hourly workers who put in a partial week when the business is closed. The FLSA generally applies to hours actually worked – and it doesn’t require employers who are unable to provide work to nonexempt employees to pay them for hours people would’ve otherwise worked.

2. People can do work that’s outside their job descriptions. It’s OK to require those reporting for duty to pick up some of their ill colleagues’ responsibilities. The FLSA doesn’t limit the types of work employees age 18 and older may be required to perform. That’s true even if the work isn’t listed on the employee’s job description.

3. Companies may require employees to telework as an infection-control strategy when there are pandemic conditions. Telework may also be a reasonable accommodation. Just be careful HR doesn’t single out employees to either telework or continue reporting to the workplace for reasons prohibited by any of the EEOC rules. Remember, too, that workers must be paid their same hourly rate or salary if they work from home. Under the FLSA, employers generally have to pay people only for the hours they actually work, whether at home or at the worksite. However, the FLSA requires employers to pay nonexempt workers at least the minimum wage for all hours worked, and at least time and one-half the regular rate of pay for hours worked in excess of 40 in a workweek. Salaried exempt employees generally must receive their full salary in any week in which they perform any work, subject to certain exceptions.

4. Employees who are required to work from home (because the workplace has shut down) but can’t, don’t have to be paid. The FLSA only requires employers to pay people for the hours they actually work, whether they’re at home or the worksite – that’s minimum wage (or more) for nonexempt employees. Salaried exempt employees must be paid their full salary in any week in which they perform any work, but for a few exceptions. Note: DOL encourages employers to consider additional options to promote “social distancing,” such as adding staggered work shifts.

5. Letting employees “volunteer” to help out during a personnel shortage could cause trouble. While that’s a nice gesture, the FLSA has stringent requirements on when you can and can’t allow people to volunteer time. Generally, covered, nonexempt employees working for private, for-profit employers have to be paid at least the minimum wage, and can’t volunteer their services. Check with the Department of Labor for the rules when volunteering in the public and private, nonprofit private sectors may be allowed.

As H1N1 sweeps through schools and workplaces, the handshake is going the way of the dinosaur. Old niceties have flown out the door to be replaced by some, ahem, swinish behavior.

Schools and workplaces are being urged to take measures to curb the spread of H1N1.

OSHA’s guidelines on how to deal with a pandemic indicate that a handshake is bad form these days. In fact, it is surprising that there isn’t a federal ban.

For example, OSHA urges business people:

• Avoid close contact (within 6 feet) with coworkers and customers. (Wow, you’d need long arms to bridge that gap).
• Avoid shaking hands and always wash your hands after physical contact with others. (But what do you do instead?)
• If wearing gloves, always wash your hands after removing them. (“Sorry, Jack, I’ll just put my gloves on to seal the deal!”)
• Minimize group meetings; use e-mails, phones and text messaging. If meetings are unavoidable, avoid close contact (within 6 feet) with others and ensure that the meeting room is properly ventilated.

Can you imagine how Kathie Lee’s butt bumping would go down at your next business meeting?

“Mary, please meet our president, Jack Gifford … ”

“Delighted to bump you, Jack!”

That’ll work. NOT.

How are you replacing the handshake?

Are you nodding your head and mumbling something about how you’d love to shake his hand but you’re really worried he’s the Typhoid Mary of 2009?

You can get more info on business planning for swine flu and recommended behavior at Flu.gov.

Julie Power is editor in chief of the print publication, Internet &  Marketing Report and the companion blog, eIMR.blogspot.com.

She twitters @JuliePower.

This strain of flu seems to spread more through the air and perhaps not at all through physical contact.

So even if sick employees come to work and keep to themselves, they may infect others just by spewing the virus into the air.

So the message to employees this fall and winter should be: If you have the flu, go home and stay there until you’re well.

And companies may have to modify their attendance policies to help encourage that.

You’d think from reading some of the media coverage that all any of us have to do to keep from getting H1N1 is wash our hands frequently.

But despite that recommendation from all sorts of health authorities, including the CDC, members of the medical community aren’t in complete agreement about the importance of hand washing.

A Newsweek article quotes doctors on both sides of the issue. Some experts say there is no evidence that flu is spread through physical contact. Some studies seem to indicate its sole method of transmission is through the air.

Take-home for businesses: Your strongest defense against a flu outbreak may not be the hand washing that even the President is recommending. Better bets: Tell employees to go home and stay home if they’re sick, and encourage them to get H1N1 shots when they become available in October.