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
The “Restoring Overtime Pay Act of 2019” (H.R. 3197, introduced by Rep. Mark Takano of California) would legislate, for the first time in U.S. history, the minimum salary for exemption under the EAP exemptions—a matter that...more
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
Even at a gathering of employment lawyers, HR professionals, and compensation veterans, one of the easiest ways to clear the room is to begin a discussion on the regular rate of pay. Few other topics, even within the general...more
4/11/2019
/ Bonuses ,
Call-Back Pay ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Minimum Wage ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Public Comment ,
Rate of Pay ,
Wage and Hour
The U.S. Department of Labor’s proposed new overtime rule was published in the Federal Register on March 22nd. As described in our earlier post, the proposed new rule would...more
3/25/2019
/ Bonuses ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Final Rules ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Incentive Compensation ,
Minimum Salary ,
Misclassification ,
Over-Time ,
Sales Commissions ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
On December 12, Proskauer partners Allan Bloom, Elise Bloom, and Harris Mufson delivered a webinar focused on how recent developments in the law impact the ground rules and key strategies for settlement in four distinct areas...more
12/21/2018
/ #MeToo ,
Class Action ,
Collective Actions ,
Confidentiality Agreements ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employment Contract ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
FRCP 23 ,
FRCP 41 ,
Judicial Review ,
Non-Disparagement Provisions ,
OSHA ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Trump Administration ,
Wage and Hour ,
Whistleblowers
Since 1966, Section 3(m) of the Fair Labor Standards Act permits an employer to take a tip credit toward its minimum wage obligation for tipped employees equal to the difference between the required cash wage (currently...more
10/22/2018
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Minimum Wage ,
Obama Administration ,
Rescission ,
Tip Credit ,
Tip-Pooling ,
Tipped Employees ,
Tips ,
Trump Administration ,
Wage and Hour
The Trump Administration unveiled its Fall 2018 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions (the “Regulatory Agenda”) earlier this week. That’s the biannual report from the federal administrative agencies on the...more
In two decisions issued on September 19, the Second Circuit relied on the Supreme Court’s instruction in Encino Motorcars, LLC v. Navarro, 138 S. Ct. 1134, 1140 (April 2, 2018) that FLSA exemptions are not to be construed...more
9/21/2018
/ Appeals ,
Drivers ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Navarro v Encino Motorcars ,
Over-Time ,
Reaffirmation ,
Salespersons ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
Summary Judgment ,
Taxi Cabs ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Wage and Hour
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
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
In an April 2, 2018 decision of otherwise narrow appeal to most employers (whether the exemption in Section 13(b) (10)(A) of the Fair Labor Standards Act for an automobile “salesman, partsman, or mechanic” applies to “service...more
4/3/2018
/ Appeals ,
Automotive Industry ,
Car Dealerships ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Legislative History ,
Navarro v Encino Motorcars ,
Over-Time ,
Reversal ,
Salespersons ,
SCOTUS ,
Service Advisors ,
Statutory Construction Test ,
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
As cryptocurrencies surge in value and enter mainstream consciousness, an increasing number of employers may consider compensating their employees with bitcoin, ether, or other cryptocurrencies. While a cryptocurrency...more
2/14/2018
/ Bitcoin ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Foreign Currency ,
Minimum Wage ,
Over-Time ,
Payroll Periods ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
Continuing the pro-business activities many expected from the agency, the U.S. Department of Labor has revived 17 Fair Labor Standards Act opinion letters that were published in the waning days of the Bush Administration in...more
The U.S. Department of Labor announced in a January 5, 2017 press release that it was scrapping the six-factor test it had used for years to determine whether interns are employees for purposes of the Fair Labor Standards Act...more
In its November 17, 2017 opinion in Galindo v. East County Louth, Inc. (No. 16 Civ. 9149), the Southern District of New York denied a motion to approve an individual FLSA settlement, including on the ground that the...more
On November 15, 2017, in a case of first impression in the Ninth Circuit, the Court of Appeals adopted the longstanding position of sister circuits and the U.S. Department of Labor that for purposes of determining whether an...more
The DOL will appeal a Texas federal court’s ruling that the Obama administration’s 2016 overtime rule exceeded the DOL’s authority. The appeal comes nearly two months after the DOL dropped an earlier appeal of that court’s...more
In light of the Texas district court’s recent judgment invalidating the 2016 overtime rule, the DOL filed an unopposed motion to withdraw its appeal of the November 2016 order that preliminarily enjoined the rule on a...more
9/8/2017
/ Appeals ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Minimum Salary ,
Obama Administration ,
Over-Time ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Secretary of Labor ,
Summary Judgment ,
Trump Administration ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
On Thursday, the Texas federal district court that had issued a preliminary injunction in November 2016 blocking implementation of the Obama Administration’s revised overtime rule granted the plaintiffs’ motion for summary...more
Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Labor filed a reply brief in further support of its appeal of the November 22, 2016 order in State of Nevada v. United States Dep’t of Labor, No. 4:16-CV-00731 (E.D. Tex.). That order,...more
7/1/2017
/ Appeals ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Lack of Authority ,
Minimum Salary ,
Over-Time ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Request For Information ,
Secretary of Labor ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
In what likely signals the end of the era of “Administrator’s Interpretations,” the DOL announced today that it will return to the practice of issuing opinion letters to provide guidance to employers and employees on Fair...more
The Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit held earlier this week that a plaintiff who received at least the minimum wage and any overtime pay owed could not sue under the FLSA for withheld tips....more
Even the Supreme Court doesn’t want to talk about the regular rate of pay.
The City of San Gabriel, California, provides a flexible benefits plan to its employees under which they receive a designated monetary amount to...more
5/17/2017
/ Appeals ,
Cash-in-Lieu of Benefits ,
Denial of Certiorari ,
Employee Benefits ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Flexible Work Arrangements ,
Liquidated Damages ,
Over-Time ,
Police ,
Remand ,
SCOTUS ,
State and Local Government ,
Wage and Hour ,
Willful Violations