"Franz Kafka in Footie Pajamas."

A great column title. Subtitle: "My consignment company for secondhand children’s clothes has somehow run afoul of federal regulators." (That's in the Wall Street Journal, so Google some text to get your own link if that doesn't work.)

In January 2013 the Labor Department audited our employment practices. Four months later the bureaucracy concluded that our volunteers are actually “employees.” As such, we were told that we were in violation of Sections 6 and 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act regarding minimum wages and overtime pay. I was told this during a face-to-face meeting, without any accompanying written complaint or advance notice of allegations....

The department is ordering me to conduct business to my detriment, and threatening hundreds of thousands of dollars in civil penalties if I fail to comply. Yet a federal court has ruled that I lack any meaningful recourse until the agency files an official complaint, which it has not done....