As expected, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) announced the withdrawal of three opinion letters issued in the waning days of the Trump administration. The opinion letters being withdrawn are...more
As expected, one of the first orders of business from the U.S. Department of Labor under the Biden administration was to scrap the 2020 “PRO Good Guidance Rule,” which imposed heightened burdens on the agency in connection...more
On November 3, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (“WHD”) issued new opinion letters addressing the compensability of time spent by employees attending voluntary training programs and in work-related...more
On August 28, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) published in the Federal Register a final rule that substantially revises its practices with respect to guidance documents. The “Promoting Regulatory Openness through...more
On August 24, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (“WHD”) issued a Field Assistance Bulletin (“FAB”) providing guidance on employers’ obligations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) to track...more
8/25/2020
/ Actual or Constructive Knowledge ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Field Assistance Bulletins ,
New Guidance ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Remote Working ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Wage & Hour Division (WHD) ,
Wage and Hour
The New York state legislature has passed a bill that would allow employees making certain claims for unpaid wages to obtain a lien against their employers’ property for the value of the claim, inclusive of liquidated...more
7/1/2019
/ Books & Records ,
Call-In Pay ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Governor Cuomo ,
Liens ,
Liquidated Damages ,
Minimum Wage ,
Payroll Deductions ,
Personal Liability ,
Privately Held Corporations ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Shareholders ,
State Labor Laws ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Unpaid Wages
In an opinion letter issued April 29, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division concluded that a “virtual marketplace company” (“VMC”) that connects service providers with consumers is not the employer of...more
4/30/2019
/ Act or Omission ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Economic Realities Test ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Gig Economy ,
Good Faith ,
Independent Contractors ,
Liquidated Damages ,
Minimum Wage ,
On-Demand Services ,
Third-Party Service Provider ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Virtual Marketplace Companies (VMCs) ,
Wage and Hour
It doesn’t seem that long ago that employers were busily preparing for the new overtime rule that would have doubled the minimum salary level for the “white collar” exemptions from $23,660 to nearly $48,000. That new...more
10/16/2018
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Minimum Salary ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
NPRM ,
Obama Administration ,
Over-Time ,
Secretary of Labor ,
Trump Administration ,
White-Collar Exemptions
Summer’s not over yet! On August 28, 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor issued four new letters in response to requests for opinions under the Fair Labor Standards Act. In this most recent slate of letters, the DOL offers...more
The rules on what kinds of travel time are (and are not) compensable for non-exempt employees are complex. As opposed to exempt employees—who generally receive a salary intended to compensate them for all working time,...more
In a case of first impression, the Second Circuit held on April 6, 2018 that liquidated damages may not be awarded for the same course of conduct under both the Fair Labor Standards Act and the New York Labor Law....more
4/9/2018
/ Affirmative Defenses ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Double Damages ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal v State Law Application ,
Good Faith ,
Liquidated Damages ,
State Labor Laws ,
Unpaid Wages ,
Wage and Hour
Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division announced the upcoming launch of a “new” pilot program called the Payroll Audit Independent Determination program (“PAID”). Under PAID, employers can...more
On June 27, 2017, the U.S. Department of Labor sent a Request for Information related to the now-enjoined overtime rule to the Office of Management and Budget for review. After OMB completes its review, the RFI will be...more
6/28/2017
/ Appeals ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Minimum Salary ,
OMB ,
Over-Time ,
Public Comment ,
Request For Information ,
Secretary of Labor ,
Stays ,
Trump Administration ,
White-Collar Exemptions
One of the recurring themes in workplace law in 2016 was the continued crackdown on independent contractor misclassification. Both federal and state agencies, as well as the plaintiffs’ bar, invested significant resources to...more
1/6/2017
/ Administrative Appeals ,
Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Appeals ,
Audits ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Independent Contractors ,
Judicial Review ,
Misclassification ,
NYDOL ,
Unemployment Insurance ,
Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board
The Portland, Oregon City Council has passed an ordinance that will impose a tax surcharge on publicly traded companies whose chief executive officers are paid at least 100 times more than the median pay of other company...more
On December 8, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals granted the U.S. Department of Labor’s motion seeking an expedited briefing schedule on its appeal of the district court injunction of the overtime rule that was scheduled to...more
As we noted in an earlier post, the election of Donald J. Trump likely means that states and municipalities—and not the federal government—will lead the charge on worker-protection issues for the next four years. In this...more
12/7/2016
/ City Councils ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Fair Work Act ,
Fast-Food Industry ,
Flexible Work Arrangements ,
Food Service Workers ,
Pending Legislation ,
Presidential Elections ,
Retail Workers ,
State and Local Government ,
Work Schedules
Yesterday the New York City Council passed the Freelance Isn’t Free Act, a local law (No. 1017-2015) establishing protections for freelance workers. The bill now goes to the Mayor’s desk for signature....more
On December 30, 2015, a federal district court in Manhattan ruled that a temporary contract attorney was not entitled to overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act or the New York Labor Law for the time he spent assisting in...more