This week President Donald Trump nominated attorney Jonathan Berry to be the next solicitor of the Department of Labor (DOL). Berry worked in the department during the first Trump administration, and he was the sole author of...more
4/4/2025
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Reform ,
Over-Time ,
Trump Administration ,
Wage and Hour
With inclement weather, snow flurries, and ice in the forecast, we thought it was best to dust off the old blog post and remind you about best practices to address weather-related issues when paying employees. We hope you all...more
By now, everyone has heard about the Texas court putting the kibosh on the new salary exempt thresholds. In other exemption classification news, the United States Supreme Court is set to issue an opinion in early 2025...more
11/20/2024
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Evidentiary Standards ,
Exemptions ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Minimum Salary ,
Misclassification ,
Over-Time ,
Threshold Requirements ,
Wage and Hour
What about those salary thresholds for white-collar employees? Although they have been challenged, they are alive and kicking. Last week, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed that the Department...more
How the FLSA “tip credit” is applied has been pushed and pulled numerous times over the last two decades. In the latest volley, the Fifth Circuit entered an order on August 23, 2024, vacating the Department of Labor’s 2021...more
8/29/2024
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Final Rules ,
Labor Reform ,
Labor Regulations ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Minimum Wage ,
Rate of Pay ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
State and Local Government ,
Tax Credits ,
Tipped Employees ,
Tips ,
Wage and Hour
Since our last post on this topic, pay transparency laws were enacted or became effective in four states, the District of Columbia, and several municipalities. The jurisdictions that require or will soon require some form of...more
As technology continues to evolve, so do the dynamics of labor and employment. The Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2024-1 (FAB 2024-1). FAB...more
5/24/2024
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Automated Systems ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Labor Reform ,
Labor Regulations ,
New Guidance ,
Technology ,
Wage & Hour Division (WHD) ,
Wage and Hour
On Tuesday, April 23, the United States Department of Labor issued its anticipated Final Rule on the Fair Labor Standards Act salary requirements for overtime exemption.
The Final Rule, which will likely face legal...more
It is every employer’s nightmare: You find out that employees (or former employees) are claiming that they were not paid properly and are due overtime for the last two or three years. This primarily arises because you...more
Someone who works in the home of their employer as a nanny or in another domestic service role is exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) wage requirements, right? Not according to Blanco v. Samuel, a recent 11th...more
Remember the 2021 Independent Contractor Rule? Well, forget it or at least most of it. Last week, the DOL published a new final rule for independent contractor status under the Fair Labor Standards Act (the New Rule). The New...more
For many, this has been a summer of strikes. Beyond the high-profile, ongoing strike of Hollywood writers and actors, union actions have secured outcomes like substantial pay increases for UPS drivers and commercial air...more
All employers subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) must post an updated version of the FLSA “Employee Rights” poster to remain compliant with the law....more
5/18/2023
/ Breastfeeding ,
Covered Employer ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Minimum Wage ,
Over-Time ,
Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act (“PUMP Act”) ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Rest and Meal Break ,
Wage and Hour
The United States Department of Labor recently issued Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2023-1 (FAB), which provides guidance to agency officials on a number of telework issues. The FAB addresses (1) paying workers who telework...more
In a highly anticipated ruling under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the U.S. Supreme Court in Helix Energy Solutions v. Hewitt held that an employee did not qualify for the highly paid exemption from the FLSA’s overtime pay...more
Do you have to pay an employee on military leave? Generally, you only have to pay for military leave if you pay employees on “comparable” leaves. So what is a comparable leave? In Clarkson v. Alaska Airlines, Inc., the Ninth...more
2/15/2023
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Rights ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
Military Leave ,
Military Service Members ,
USERRA ,
Wage and Hour
The new year is here and brings a number of states with new pay transparency requirements for employers, some of which impact job postings. Proponents believe these laws will level the playing field, allowing all candidates...more
1/12/2023
/ Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Pay ,
Equal Pay Act ,
Job Ads ,
New Legislation ,
Pay Transparency ,
Salary/Wage History ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
This year brought substantial progress in the way of slightly fewer positive COVID-19 cases and/or transmissions and increased vaccinations. Consequently, in the employment world many of you reopened your offices and invited...more
11/23/2022
/ Bureau of Labor Statistics ,
Classification ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Independent Contractors ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Posting Requirements ,
Safe Harbors ,
State and Local Government ,
Unemployment ,
Vaccinations ,
Wage and Hour
Paid leave benefits are a hot topic these days. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) has issued an updated report on states that have Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) programs and how they work....more
If you have an arbitration agreement, do you have to compel arbitration when the lawsuit is filed or can you wait awhile? This week, the Supreme Court concluded that a party litigating in federal court cannot later compel...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) recently proposed new federal regulations regarding how minimum wages will be calculated for federal construction projects. DOL’s new proposal will add to the cost of performing these projects....more
For the past three years, Mississippi remained the only state in the country that did not have a bill prohibiting pay discrimination based on gender. This all changed on April 20, 2022, when Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves...more
5/16/2022
/ Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Pay ,
Equal Pay Act ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Gender Equity ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Governor Reeves ,
Legislative Agendas ,
New Legislation ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
What is the right way to dismiss a case the parties have settled, and are FLSA cases different? Typically, when parties to a lawsuit settle a case, they merely alert the court of the settlement and then file a stipulation of...more
2/15/2022
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ,
Minimum Wage ,
Misclassification ,
Settlement ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Wage and Hour
Law and Practice Chambers -
The 2020 Chambers US Regional Employment Guide features guidance on employment law across 14 states and includes a unique state comparison tool for readers. The guide provides expert legal...more
10/29/2021
/ Alabama ,
Black Lives Matter ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Discrimination ,
Dispute Resolution ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Gig Economy ,
Harassment ,
Health and Safety ,
Immigration ,
Interviews ,
NLRB ,
OSHA ,
Privacy Laws ,
Public Health Emergency ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Retaliation ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State and Local Government ,
Technology ,
Termination ,
Unions ,
Vaccinations ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
Are you paying employees using a day rate under the FLSA? If so, you may want to read the Fifth Circuit’s recent ruling in the latest string of Helix Energy cases. According to the Fifth Circuit, companies who do business in...more