The Justice Insiders Podcast: Feds Danske to a New Tune
As 2020 Winds Down, Keep Your Guard Up!
Revisiting Executive Compensation and Employee Incentive Plans
Three Timely Benefits Items Everyone Should Know
WHERE HAVE YOU GONE, CHIP HILTON?
III-44- A Little Help From The DOL
I-20 - Special Holiday Party Episode
Unfair and Unbalanced-Episode 18
Bill on Bankruptcy: Easterbrook Turns the Tide on Student Loans
Bill on Bankruptcy: Sigmund Freud, Marx Brothers, Bernie Madoff
Lat: Law Firms Must Get Big, Profitable or Lost
Lat: 'Measured Comeback' for BigLaw; Associate Bonuses Rising
Bill on Bankruptcy: Will 2013 Be Kind To The Bankruptcy Bar?
Many employers are planning to reclassify employees to non-exempt status now that the Labor Department is significantly raising the salary threshold for employees to be exempt from overtime pay. You likely know that...more
As we wind down 2023, your company may be sharing with its employees either through business closing periods or end-of-the-year bonuses. Employers must be cognizant that these generous gestures may carry compliance...more
In the wake of the pandemic, some employers — opting for the carrot over the stick — have started offering weekly attendance bonuses to incentivize a return to the office. We have recently seen an uptick in employee-filed...more
On August 30, 2023, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued a proposed rule regarding the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime exemptions, most notably increasing the standard salary threshold for the so-called “white...more
I read an interesting post by Frank Shuster of Constangy, Brooks, Smith on the thorny and often misunderstood issue of the “regular rate” and what that concept entails for compliance with the FLSA. Many employers,...more
In a pro-employer decision addressing the overlap of federal and California wage and hour law, the California Court of Appeal for the Second Appellate District upheld summary adjudication for the employer, finding that the...more
When the US Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division published a Final Rule on the regular rate in late 2019, it gave employers the freedom to more easily offer perks and benefits to their employees without running afoul...more
It is black letter FLSA canon that a promised bonus, such as a production bonus, or longevity bonus, must be included in the regular rate of employees who work overtime for the period of time covered by the bonus. This maxim...more
Over the years, we have periodically published EmployNews articles on the impact of bonuses or other incentive compensation on the regular rate used to calculate overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)....more
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires that non-exempt employees be paid no less than time and one-half their regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 hours in a workweek. How should an employer calculate an...more
What employers often miss when calculating proper overtime is that they must include in the regular rate different kinds of supplemental payments that non-exempt people receive. If they do not, they are not paying properly. ...more
With the end of the year just around the corner, many employers may be contemplating giving year-end bonuses to their non-exempt employees. And bonuses, year-end or otherwise, can create problems for employers when it comes...more
In a case of first impression for the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, a Fifth Circuit panel has ruled that it is the employee, not the employer, who has the burden to establish that bonus payments are non-discretionary and,...more
I have often blogged about the thorny issue of bonuses under the FLSA and when those bonuses must be included in the regular rate of employees for overtime purposes. The crucial test is whether the bonus is discretionary,...more
One of the most frequently violated provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act involves the effect of bonuses or other incentive compensation on the rate used to calculate overtime. For non-exempt employees, the employer must...more
For almost 80 years, it has been the law that an overtime-eligible employee whose hours fluctuate from week to week and who agrees to receive a fixed weekly salary covering all hours of work is entitled to a halftime premium...more
On January 7, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor published three new opinion letters that every employer should review. The first involves an employer’s nondiscretionary bonus payment of $3,000 given to employees who...more
Given the unique characteristics of the health care space, wage and hour compliance can be particularly challenging for health care employers. Round-the-clock operations, staffing shortages and patient demands can create an...more
On January 7th, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division issued its first Opinion Letter of 2020, and the Letter serves as a reminder to businesses that retroactive overtime payments may be necessary if...more
In its first installment of opinions letters in 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (“WHD”) addressed two issues under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”): (i) the salary basis requirements in the...more
On January 7, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor published three new opinion letters – two that address compliance under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and one that addresses compliance under the Family Medical Leave...more
Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division issued two new opinion letters which clarify how employers should calculate the overtime rate when employees are paid lump-sum bonuses and when employers...more
Not sitting on its laurels, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has already issued three new opinion letters to begin the year. Two deal with issues under the FLSA and a third addresses issues under the FMLA....more
On January 7, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) issued three opinion letters, two of which concerned the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). (The other dealt with the Family and Medical Leave Act...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage & Hour Division recently issued two opinion letters providing clarity to employers in determining (1) the proper overtime rate of pay for non-discretionary, multi-week...more