Shortly after his election in November 2021, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced that he would accept his first three paychecks in Bitcoin. On January 20, 2022, the day before his first paycheck from the City was...more
3/9/2022
/ Bitcoin ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Digital Currency ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Ethereum ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Minimum Wage ,
Over-Time ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities Regulation ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
In this blog series, we’ll look at a variety of activities and discuss whether an employer has to pay its non-exempt (i.e., overtime-eligible) employees for their time spent engaging in them. We’ll focus on federal law, but...more
10/18/2021
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
De Minimis Claims ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Screening Procedures ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
We appear to be on the precipice of a federal government shutdown. Absent a political compromise, the federal government’s funding will run out on September 30, 2021, and the White House has instructed federal agencies to...more
On July 21, 2021, answering a question certified by the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that time spent by employees waiting to undergo and undergoing mandatory...more
The U.S. Department of Labor announced on July 29 that it will rescind the March 2020 rule on Joint Employer Status under the Fair Labor Standards Act (the “2020 Rule”). The DOL’s action removes the regulations established...more
Remember the Trump administration’s new rule for classifying workers as independent contractors? The one issued on January 6, 2021, only weeks before President Biden took office? The one that would have revised the U.S....more
On April 9, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) rescinded the Trump-era enforcement practice of abstaining from seeking liquidated damages in connection with pre-litigation investigations and settlements of wage and hour...more
In a complaint filed on March 26, 2021, business groups challenged a U.S. Department of Labor March 4, 2021 final rule to delay the effective date of the Trump-era regulation on independent contractor classification. As we...more
We’re 50 days into the Biden administration. Here’s an update on where things stand with respect to wage and hour law at the federal level...more
In accordance the Biden administration’s January 20 regulatory freeze memorandum, the U.S Department of Labor issued proposals to delay the effective dates of the Final Rules on independent contractor classification and tip...more
On January 29, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that it was discontinuing the Payroll Audit Independent Determination (“PAID”) program, effective immediately. Under the program, which began in 2018, employers could...more
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
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) issued two new opinion letters on January 8, 2021, bringing the number of “lame duck” wage and hour opinion letters—issued since Election Day 2020—to six....more
On December 31, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) issued two opinion letters—one on home-to-office travel time and one on live-in caregivers. Such “lame duck” opinion letters—issued...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
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) unveiled a proposed rule on September 22, 2020 to clarify whether a worker is or isn’t an independent contractor for purposes of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The proposed rule adds a...more
On September 2, 2020, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that employees bear the burden of proof on whether bonuses should have been included in the regular rate of pay for purposes of calculating overtime...more
In an opinion letter issued on August 31, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor restated its position that an employee’s hours need not fluctuate above and below 40 hours to qualify for the fluctuating workweek (“FWW”) method of...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
Effective July 1, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) will pull back on seeking liquidated damages in pre-litigation settlements of wage claims and investigations. The change in policy, announced in Field Assistance...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 May 19, 2020, the United States Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) implemented a final rule withdrawing partial lists of establishments that it previously interpreted as either having “no retail concept” or...more
5/23/2020
/ Administrative Interpretation ,
Amended Rules ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Exemptions ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Final Rules ,
Over-Time ,
Relief Measures ,
Retail Sales ,
Retailers ,
Sales Commissions ,
Salespersons ,
Wage and Hour
On December 6, 2019, a divided Second Circuit panel concluded that settlement proposals in accepted offers of judgment under FRCP 68 are not subject to judicial review and approval. Mei Xing Yu et al. v. Hasaki Restaurant...more
On January 1, 2020, the new federal overtime rule takes effect. Other than in states with already-higher minimum salaries for exemption (which include California and, for certain types of employees, New York), employers will...more
9/26/2019
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Minimum Salary ,
Misclassification ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Over-Time ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
The U.S. Department of Labor issued its final rule amending the overtime regulations today, without any significant changes from the proposed rule the agency issued in March 2019. Here’s the bottom line....more
9/25/2019
/ Bonuses ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Final Rules ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Incentive Compensation ,
Minimum Salary ,
Minimum Wage ,
Misclassification ,
New Rules ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Obama Administration ,
Over-Time ,
Salaried Employees ,
Sales Commissions ,
Trump Administration ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions