Real World Impact: On September 11, 2024, in Mayfield v. Department of Labor, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld the Department of Labor’s (DOL) authority to set minimum salary thresholds for overtime...more
Executive Summary: On April 23, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published its long-awaited final rule raising the salary thresholds for certain overtime exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The rule,...more
Executive Summary: On January 9, 2024, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) announced a final rule that revises the DOL’s interpretation of employee classification under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) only. The...more
1/9/2024
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Economic Realities Test ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Final Rules ,
Freelance Workers ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Reform ,
Misclassification ,
Wage and Hour
The federal Department of Labor (DOL) has long interpreted the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to allow an employer to pay a nonexempt employee a fixed salary for all hours worked in a workweek and “half-time” of an...more
These days, more and more lawmakers are looking to regulate the amount of salary information employers are required to provide job applicants. On January 1, 2023, California, Rhode Island, and Washington State all had new...more
1/18/2023
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Pay ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Ads ,
Job Applicants ,
Labor Reform ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pay Gap ,
Pay Rates ,
Pay Transparency ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
Executive Summary: On October 11, 2022, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) announced that it will publish a notice of proposed rulemaking that would assist employers in classifying workers as employees or independent...more
10/12/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Reform ,
Misclassification ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Wage and Hour
Applying the “economic realities” test, the Fifth Circuit (with jurisdiction over federal courts in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas) recently held that a consultant for an oil and gas company was not subject to FLSA...more
2/26/2020
/ Appeals ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Contract Terms ,
Economic Realities Test ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Summary Judgment ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Unpaid Wages ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
As of January 6, 2020, New York employers are prohibited from inquiring about an applicant’s prior salary. The ban, codified as N.Y. Lab. Law § 194-a, was signed into law by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on July 10, 2019,...more
1/10/2020
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Pay ,
Gender Equity ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
New Legislation ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pay Gap ,
Salary/Wage History ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
Wage and Hour claims, especially those brought in a collective and/or class action context, remain the most dominant lawsuit brought against employers. Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court expressly upheld class action...more
The federal Equal Pay Act already imposes limitations on employers when it comes to compensating employees of the opposite sex for equal work....more
4/20/2018
/ Appeals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Pay ,
Equal Pay Act ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Pay Gap ,
Popular ,
Salary/Wage History ,
Wage and Hour
As reported last week, on March 23rd, President Trump signed into law a massive spending bill that, among other things, amended the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to clarify that a manager or supervisor may not keep his...more
4/13/2018
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Field Assistance Bulletins ,
Food Service Workers ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Minimum Wage ,
New Legislation ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Tip Credit ,
Tip-Pooling ,
Tipped Employees ,
Tips ,
Wage and Hour
On March 23rd, President Trump signed into law a massive spending bill. Buried on page 2025 of the spending bill, available here, is the following amendment to Section 203(m) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the...more
4/2/2018
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Food Service Workers ,
Minimum Wage ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Tip Credit ,
Tip-Pooling ,
Tipped Employees ,
Tips ,
Wage and Hour
Federal regulations currently treat tips as the employee’s property, regardless of whether the employer pays that employee the minimum wage or whether it uses a tip credit to satisfy the minimum wage requirement. ...more
2/2/2018
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Food Service Workers ,
Minimum Wage ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Tip Credit ,
Tipped Employees ,
Tips ,
Wage and Hour
Quite a bit of effort goes into making an enjoyable restaurant experience, such as good food, prompt service and, of course, cleanliness. Want to reward the dishwashers for providing you with spotless silverware, expediters...more
7/26/2017
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Food Service Workers ,
Minimum Wage ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Tip Credit ,
Tip-Pooling ,
Tipped Employees ,
Tips ,
Wage and Hour