The 18 states challenging the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) new “joint employer” rule may proceed, a district court has decided, over the DOL’s motion to dismiss the case. State of New York v. Scalia, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS...more
On May 20, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a Final Rule expressly permitting employers to provide additional pay, such as bonuses, commissions, or premiums, to employees when utilizing the “fluctuating...more
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
Federal and state laws regulating the payment of wages continue to develop at a rapid pace. States continue to increase their minimum wage, despite the federal minimum wage remaining stagnant at $7.25 per hour since 2009.
...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has released its Final Rule updating regulations governing “joint employer” status under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The regulations have not been updated in more than 60 years....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
Persistent confusion over the Department of Labor’s (DOL) “fluctuating workweek” (FWW) pay method to satisfy employers’ obligation to pay overtime has deterred many from using it. Now, the DOL has proposed changes to clarify...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on October 8, 2019, to eliminate the “20% Rule,” or “80/20 Rule,” under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
The 20% Rule, which first appeared...more
10/8/2019
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Food Service Workers ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Minimum Wage ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Tip Credit ,
Tip-Pooling ,
Tipped Employees ,
Tips ,
Wage and Hour
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has issued a new Final Rule updating the minimum salary requirements for the “white collar” (executive, administrative, and professional) overtime exemptions. The new rule goes into effect...more
Paying an employee a day rate of $1,000 per day satisfies the salary basis test for purposes of the overtime exemption applicable to a “highly compensated employee” (HCE) under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the U.S....more
Workers on oil drilling platforms off the coast of California are covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), not California’s overtime and wage laws, the U.S. Supreme Court has held unanimously. Parker Drilling...more
6/17/2019
/ Appeals ,
Choice-of-Law ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Enclave Rules ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Federal v State Law Application ,
Offshore Drilling ,
On-Call Employees ,
Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act ,
Parker Drilling Management Services Ltd v Newton ,
Preemption ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
State Labor Laws ,
Unpaid Wages ,
Wage and Hour
Citing the interest expressed by “law firms, unions, and advocacy organizations, among others,” the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has extended the period for public comment on recently-issued Notices of Proposed Rulemaking...more
Since 1939, regulations interpreting the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) have recognized that two or more “employers” can be jointly and severally liable for a single employee’s hours worked under the Act. However, the U.S....more
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
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a new proposed rule that intends to raise the annual minimum salary requirements for the FLSA’s “white collar” (executive, administrative, and professional)...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
Concluding that a student at a for-profit cosmetology academy was the “primary beneficiary” of the hours he spent training at the academy’s salon, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the district’s court’s...more
The law regulating the payment of wages and work hours is a vibrant area: the “fight for $15.00”; battles over who can receive tips (and whether the tip credit should be eliminated entirely); whether workers should be given...more
1/28/2019
/ ABC Test ,
Arbitration ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Independent Contractors ,
Internships ,
Minimum Wage ,
Over-Time ,
Primary Beneficiary Test ,
Salary/Wage History ,
State Labor Laws ,
Tip Credit ,
Tip-Pooling ,
Tipped Employees ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wage Payment and Collection Act ,
White-Collar Exemptions
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
For the first time, a federal appellate court has acknowledged its obligation to give a “fair reading” to all Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime exemptions, as the U.S. Supreme Court stated in Encino Motorcars, LLC v....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
The U.S. Supreme Court term that ended June 2018 included decisions on many topics important to workplace law, including class action waivers in employment arbitration agreements, public-sector “agency shop” arrangements, and...more
6/29/2018
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
CNH Industrial N.V. v Reese ,
Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) ,
Digital Realty Trust Inc v Somers ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Epic Systems Corp v Lewis ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Janus v AFSCME ,
Masterpiece Cakeshop Ltd v Colorado Civil Rights Commission ,
Murphy v National Collegiate Athletic Association ,
Navarro v Encino Motorcars ,
NLRA ,
Over-Time ,
PASPA ,
Reversal ,
Same-Sex Marriage ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Sports Betting ,
Travel Ban ,
Trump v Hawaii ,
Union Dues
This week the Department of Labor issued new guidance, in a “Field Assistance Bulletin,” on the recent amendment to the FLSA regarding tip sharing. The recent amendment to the FLSA (which was included in the omnibus budget...more
4/11/2018
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Food Service Workers ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Tip Credit ,
Tip-Pooling ,
Tipped Employees ,
Tips ,
Wage and Hour