On August 23, 2024, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a 2021 regulation by the U.S. Department of Labor restricting employers’ use of the tip credit for tipped employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The...more
Many employers make the mistake of assuming that employees can be treated as exempt so long as they have certain job titles or are paid a salary rather than an hourly wage. That error is especially common in small businesses...more
After a federal judge in the Eastern District of Texas blocked the DOL’s new overtime exemption rule as it pertains to Texas state employees, another judge in the Northern District of Texas declined to issue a similar...more
7/3/2024
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Final Rules ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Labor Reform ,
Minimum Salary ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Over-Time ,
Salaried Employees ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
On Friday, a federal district court granted a preliminary injunction sought by the State of Texas to block implementation of the U.S. Department of Labor’s new rule increasing minimum salaries for overtime exempt employee....more
With the DOL’s new overtime exemption rule set to go into effect on July 1 and no ruling yet on the state of Texas’s motion to put the rule on hold, employers will need to decide what to do with exempt employees whose minimum...more
The clock is quickly ticking down to July 1, when the U.S. Department of Labor’s new rule increasing the minimum salary for many employees to be considered exempt from overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act is supposed...more
6/26/2024
/ Deadlines ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Final Rules ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Labor Reform ,
Minimum Salary ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Over-Time ,
Popular ,
Salaried Employees ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
Earlier this month, the Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection published the final rules supporting Chicago’s new Paid Leave and Paid Sick and Safe Leave Ordinance. Both the ordinance and the rules go...more
A common question for schools assessing how to comply with the new overtime exemption rule published by the U.S. DOL is what to do about coaches and athletic trainers in light of the new minimum salary requirement for the...more
5/14/2024
/ Coaches ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Educational Institutions ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Final Rules ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Labor Reform ,
Minimum Salary ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Over-Time ,
Salaried Employees ,
Sports ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
The U.S. Department of Labor recently published new final regulations that increase the minimum salary level for most employees to be considered exempt under the executive, administrative, and professional exemptions to the...more
On April 23, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor issued final regulations updating the minimum salary threshold for employees to be considered exempt from overtime requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The...more
On March 14, 2024, the Cook County Board of Commissioners passed an amendment to the new Cook County Paid Leave Ordinance and approved the final draft of proposed rules under the Ordinance. The new amendment, effective...more
On January 9, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor announced a new final rule revising the test for whether workers are considered to be employees versus independent contractors for purposes of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The...more
1/10/2024
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Economic Realities Test ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Final Rules ,
Freelance Workers ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Reform ,
Misclassification ,
Over-Time ,
Wage and Hour
In November 2023, the Chicago City Council passed the Chicago Paid Leave and Paid Sick and Safe Leave Ordinance, dramatically expanding the city’s existing paid sick leave ordinance to require employers to provide an...more
Under a new amendment to the Illinois Day and Temporary Labor Services Act, Illinois employers and staffing agencies will be required to provide temporary workers pay and benefits equal to certain directly-hired employees...more
In April, the Illinois Department of Labor published new regulations regarding the expense reimbursement requirements in Section 9.5 of the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act. The Act requires an employer to reimburse...more
5/3/2023
/ Business Expenses ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Illinois ,
Labor Reform ,
New Regulations ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Reimbursements ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
Governor Pritzker has signed into law the recently passed “Paid Leave for All Workers Act” (“PLAWA”), guaranteeing paid time off for virtually all working Illinoisans. Set to go into effect on January 1, 2024, the PLAWA will...more
In a reminder that it takes more than a big paycheck to be exempt from the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), the U.S. Supreme Court held in Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. v. Hewitt that a...more
2/28/2023
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc v Hewitt No 21-984 ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Over-Time ,
SCOTUS ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
In 2018, Congress added a provision to the Fair Labor Standards Act prohibiting employers from retaining employee tips or allowing managers or supervisors to participate in a tip pooling arrangement. Today, the U.S....more
9/23/2021
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Food Service Workers ,
Labor Reform ,
Labor Regulations ,
Minimum Wage ,
Penalties ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Tipped Employees ,
Tips ,
Wage and Hour
Wage and hour law is full of traps for the unwary. Even compensation practices that are well-accepted across an entire industry can sometimes create huge headaches for employers in the face of a legal challenge....more
9/17/2021
/ Day-Rate Pay ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Minimum Salary ,
Misclassification ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Over-Time ,
Salaried Employees ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
Wage and hour violations in Illinois just got a lot more expensive. On Friday, July 9, 2021, Governor Pritzker signed an amendment to the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act that increases the penalty for underpaying...more
In week ten, the Biden administration’s labor and employment activity includes the Senate confirmation of Marty Walsh as Labor Secretary, the nomination of former CEO of the Democratic National Committee to the Solicitor of...more
Each week during the first 100 days of the new administration, we will provide a recap of significant initiatives and events that will impact employers.
In week nine, the Biden administration’s labor and employment...more
3/23/2021
/ Administrative Appointments ,
Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Enforcement Authority ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Labor Reform ,
Labor Regulations ,
OSHA ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
In week eight, the Administration’s labor and employment activity includes the passage of the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, the House’s passage of the PRO Act labor law reform bill, and the upcoming Senate confirmation...more
3/15/2021
/ American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ,
Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Labor Reform ,
Minimum Wage ,
New Legislation ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Relief Measures ,
Sick Leave ,
Sick Pay ,
Tax Credits ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour
In week six, the Administration’s labor and employment activity includes a major roadblock to the $15 federal minimum wage increase, an extension of unemployment benefits by the DOL, and unexpected silence by the...more
3/1/2021
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Biden Administration ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Labor Reform ,
Labor Regulations ,
Labor Relations ,
Minimum Wage ,
Unemployment Insurance ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour
In week five, the Administration’s labor and employment activity includes a new NLRB General Counsel appointee, an executive order revoking Trump’s industry-led apprenticeship program, the DOL’s continual withdrawal of Trump...more
2/22/2021
/ Administrative Appointments ,
Apprenticeships ,
Biden Administration ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Reform ,
Labor Regulations ,
Labor Relations ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
Wage and Hour