With specific, limited exceptions set forth in Section 207(e) of its regulations, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires that all compensation provided to a non-exempt employee must be included when determining the...more
Employers continue to grapple with an ongoing, unprecedented public health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and its after-effects, which have profoundly disrupted the nation’s economy and U.S. workplaces. In this issue,...more
8/6/2020
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Best Practices ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Class Action ,
COBRA ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retention ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Furloughs ,
Layoffs ,
No-Poaching ,
OSHA ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Remote Working ,
Telecommuting ,
Wage and Hour ,
WARN Act ,
Workplace Safety
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) withdrew its interpretative rules setting forth the types of businesses either not qualifying, or only possibly qualifying, as “retail or service establishments” when determining whether a...more
Upon further reflection, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has determined that paying an employee a set amount for each day that he works (i.e. on a “day rate” basis) does not satisfy the “salary...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) has issued its Final Rule revising the regulations governing the calculation of the “regular rate” of pay, used to calculate overtime, under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The Final Rule,...more
Our quarterly report takes a look back at the most significant class action developments over the last year, including litigation trends, court decisions, and legislative and regulatory changes that are certain to invite...more
After six months of primarily internal Democratic Party wrangling, on July 18, 2019 the House of Representatives passed the Raise the Wage Act, which, if it became law, would progressively increase the federal minimum wage to...more
The U.S. Supreme Court term that ended in June 2019 included decisions on many topics important to workplace law, including class actions, arbitration, and administrative exhaustion and Title VII claims.
...more
7/10/2019
/ Age Discrimination ,
Arbitration ,
Auer Deference ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Class Arbitration ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Fort Bend County Texas v Davis ,
Kisor v Wilkie ,
Lamps Plus Inc v Varela ,
Mount Lemmon Fire District v Guido ,
Parker Drilling Management Services Ltd v Newton ,
SCOTUS ,
Title VII ,
Wage and Hour
Notwithstanding the employers’ victory at the U.S. Supreme Court in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, which made it clear that arbitration and class action waiver regimes do not violate the National Labor Relations Act, employers...more
Our quarterly report discusses new developments in class action litigation and offers strategic guidance and tactical tips on how to defend such claims. This issue covers the following topics:
- Who gets notice of a...more
6/26/2019
/ #MeToo ,
Background Checks ,
Class Action ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Equal Pay ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Lactation Accommodation ,
Medical Marijuana ,
NLRB ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pregnancy ,
Prevailing Wages ,
Wage and Hour ,
Website Accessibility ,
Whistleblowers
The Department of Labor (DOL) has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to revise the regulations governing the calculation of the regular rate under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
The FLSA generally requires...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has issued a new proposed rule raising the annual minimum salary requirements for the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) “white collar” overtime exemptions (executive, administrative, and...more
In a significant case of first impression, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit just held it to be in error for a district court to order notice be sent to employees as part of a certification who, by a...more
Are you my employee?
Ayanna is working as an IT consultant at Globo Worldwide, part of a large team brought on to assist the e-commerce company in updating its website and email servers for EU General Data Protection...more
Last November, the United States Department of Labor (USDOL) issued Opinion Letter FLSA2018-27, rescinding the so-called “80/20” Tip Credit Rule, a provision that during the last decade had spawned a cottage industry of...more
Our quarterly report discusses new developments in class action litigation and offers strategic guidance and tactical tips on how to defend such claims. This issue covers the following topics: -
Are you my employer?
A...more
12/13/2018
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Class Certification ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Joint Employers ,
Misclassification ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Unpaid Interns ,
Wage and Hour
The Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the Department of Labor (DOL) has reissued a 2009 opinion letter, effectively withdrawing enforcement guidance that made the tip credit under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) unavailable...more
The Department of Labor (“DOL”) today rescinded its prior guidance that made the tip credit unavailable to tipped employees who spend more than 20% of their time performing allegedly non-tip generating duties. The 20%...more
Focusing on education to ensure compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act, on August 28, 2018 Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta announced the creation of the DOL’s new Office of Compliance Initiatives (OCI). That office...more
In furtherance of a practice reinstituted earlier this year, on August 28, 2018 the DOL’s Wage Hour Division (WHD) issued four new opinion letters covering FLSA topics. The current administration began that practice when, in...more
In a natural extension of the Supreme Court’s recent conclusion that the NLRA does not preclude the use of class or collective action waivers in employment-related arbitration agreements, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals...more
ABC Discount Superstores prides itself on undercutting any competitor’s prices— and on the diversity of its workforce. Always on the cutting edge, the company was among the first in the retail industry to embrace online...more
8/14/2018
/ ABC Test ,
ADEA ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Class Certification ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Disparate Impact ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
OFCCP ,
Over-Time ,
Pay Discrimination ,
Wage and Hour
An amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in the omnibus budget bill, “Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018,” passed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump on March 23, 2018, provides that an employer...more
Employers would be expressly permitted to require servers and other tip-earning employees to share their tips with employees working in the kitchen and other “back of the house” employee, but only when the employer does not...more
In what may be viewed as a pyrrhic victory, now-defunct[1] “big box” electronics, appliance and furniture retailer hhgregg’s commission-with-draws compensation program generally was lawful under the FLSA, the Sixth Circuit...more