One relatively common misapprehension by employers is that generous wages or popular methods of payment will satisfy the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). On February 22, 2023, the Supreme Court reiterated the need not simply...more
2/22/2023
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc v Hewitt No 21-984 ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Minimum Salary ,
Multi-Factor Test ,
Over-Time ,
Salaried Employees ,
SCOTUS ,
Wage and Hour
Most employers today have anti-harassment policies covering race, gender and other types of discrimination to help comply with state and federal antidiscrimination legislation and to take advantage of the affirmative defense...more
Joint or single employer liability has gotten a lot of attention in recent years, where a company is held responsible for the employment obligations of a sufficiently interrelated contractor or corporate entity. ...more
Two Centuries of Federal Precedent Given Effect -
We’ve blogged several times the ongoing saga involving AB 51, California’s attempt to prevent the mandatory arbitration of employment claims largely by sanctioning...more
A recent case from the Third Circuit casts a spotlight on many of the problems inherent in so-called off-the-clock claims for overtime....more
A significant amount of wage and hour class/collective jurisprudence has developed around the issue of whether exotic dancers are employees or independent contractors....more
Two years ago, we blogged a pair of cases with similar fact patterns and outcomes involving the successful use of time studies (See our October 13, 2017 and October 16, 2017 blog posts). ...more
In yet another challenge regarding the employment status of students and interns as employees, the Second Circuit has concluded quite rightfully that vocational students – even those at for-profit institutions – are still...more
Most employment class actions today are wage and hour matters, but class actions for alleged discrimination are still brought and can present their own unique challenges for both plaintiffs and the defense....more
Once thought to be the next wave of wage-and-hour cases, suits involving interns and students have tended to founder because most training programs are intended to train rather than to provide employment....more
Employer Performance-Based Rate Scheme for Automobile Repair Upheld Under California Law -
With many of the easy targets for wage and hour matters gone (e.g., misclassification of assistant managers), plaintiffs’ counsel...more
While the proportion of private sector employees represented by unions is down, unions retain an important workplace role, and the terms of collective bargaining agreements can both affect and be fatal to wage and hour...more
It turns out the lunch really is free.
With low-hanging fruit like claimed misclassification of low-level supervisors already plucked, plaintiffs increasingly turn to more novel claims. ...more
My father grew up in Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II and would tell the story of how an official would come to his family’s home to modify their radio so they could not receive BBC broadcasts. Shortly after the...more
An improper class still isn’t a class even if you settle - Here’s something you don’t see every day. A district court has rejected the settlement of a proposed class and collective action – not due to the usual reasons such...more
Overconfidence won’t overcome questions of fact -
Most practitioners and human resource professionals are already familiar with the increasingly difficult wage and hour laws in California and its “Mini Me” to the east, New...more
Plaintiffs’ Arguments Miss the [fill in the blank] -
One of the justifications and requirements for class treatment is that the plaintiffs’ claims all can be resolved in one stroke. ...more
Ernest Angley is an evangelist and purported faith healer who operates a large church in Akron known as Grace Cathedral. It would be difficult to parody him, as his appearance, mannerisms and method of faith healing are...more
In virtually every case, so-called off-the-clock disputes come down to the situations of individuals rather than classwide conduct. An employee may claim that a night supervisor told them not to record time after midnight. An...more
One of the tactics in the current plaintiffs’ wage and hour playbook is to bring a second claim after settlement of an initial class or collective action lawsuit. In these cases, the second set of claims is purportedly...more
Nearly four years ago, the California Supreme Court issued its decision in the case of Duran v. U.S. Bank National Ass’n, 59 Cal. 4th 1 (2014), in which it virtually catalogued the many problems inherent in the plaintiffs’...more
In 2014, five law firms brought a claim for alleged off-the-clock work. As discovery revealed, the claims all arose out of conduct involving a single shift supervisor at a single restaurant, and the conduct was disputed at...more
Four years ago, a wave of cases involving unpaid internships looked to be the next “big thing.” As those cases sputtered, however, and employers reduced or eliminated internships, the flood of anticipated litigation never...more
With waves of cases already having addressed common targets for wage and hour litigation – assistant managers, healthcare workers, loan officers, donning and doffing claims, and the like – cases alleging more arcane claimed...more
Do any of your office systems involve fingerprint scans or facial recognition? If so, and if you have any Illinois business operations, you may soon become a target of the latest round of employment class actions....more