Risk Prevention Strategies: Avoiding Costly FLSA Missteps
What Should I Do If My Employer Failed to Pay Me Wages?
On August 16, 2024, a divided Seventh Circuit panel held that a court needs to establish personal jurisdiction over each individual member of a Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) collective, further contributing to an existing...more
On January 3, 2024, the defendant in Heppard v. Dunham’s Athleisure Corporation filed an interlocutory appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, arguing that the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District...more
It’s the fourth quarter. Three seconds are left on the clock, and your team is losing by one point. Your place kicker confidently trots onto the field to attempt the game-winning field goal. As he does, the TV announcer says,...more
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) provides a process by which an employee or a small group of employees can sue for unpaid wages, often in the form of overtime, and can also claim to be representing all others “similarly...more
On April 14, 2023, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (Ellis, J.) declined to conditionally certify a collective of USA Today sports website editors, ruling that the familiar two-step Fair...more
In some instances, it’s hard to see what benefit there is to a class action other than for the lawyers. This is particularly true in so-called “regular rate” cases challenging employer perks such as free meals, various kinds...more
• Cannabis businesses must comply with federal wage and hour law, a federal appeals court ruled, despite the fact they operate in a field still illegal under another federal law. The court said two wrongs don’t make a right....more
The Fifth Circuit recently became the first federal court of appeals to hold that employees who signed arbitration agreements should not receive notice of collective actions. This case of first impression among the courts of...more
The U.S. federal government shutdown has continued for more than a month, with no probable end in sight. While many government employees are furloughed, an estimated 420,000 others are deemed “essential employees” and are...more
It may not have been showering minimum wage, tip, and overtime developments in April, but there was a sprinkling at the federal, state, and local levels. ...more
Hospitality employers open to the general public should be aware of a recent decision by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with implications across the industry. In a 2-to-1 decision, the NLRB ruled that a hotel and...more
Pending before the United States Supreme Court is a petition for writ of certiorari asking the Court to determine whether an employer may use payments for bona fide meal periods as an offset/credit against compensable work...more
A fresh Supreme Court term has kicked off, with a new slate of cases awaiting the Court’s decision. Among these cases are several that the automotive industry should keep an eye on, as they impact the law in ways that will...more
The world’s largest Pizza Hut franchisee, NPC International, Inc. (“NPC”), which operates more than 1200 Pizza Hut restaurants in the United States, was sued in federal district court by employees in five separate collective...more
Previously, we described a court’s reaction when some plaintiff-employees tried to reinstate their collective wage claim in court using a belated NLRB order against class action arbitration waivers. (See: Court Order Trumps...more
We have understood for many years that early assessment and action can help resolve claims by current and former employees. The Supreme Court recently provided employers with additional ammunition with which to derail, or...more
In its recent decision in Genesis Healthcare Corp. v. Symczyk, the U.S. Supreme Court aided employer efforts to "pick off" named plaintiffs in collective actions for unpaid wages brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act...more
Kenneth Hatai sued his employer (CalTrans) and his supervisor (Sameer Haddadeen), alleging discrimination based on his Japanese ancestry and the fact that he was not of Arab ancestry like Haddadeen. The case was tried to a...more