In 2024, the Department of Labor adopted regulations limiting the definition of independent contractors exempt from the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime and minimum wage requirements....more
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined review of a First Circuit Court of Appeals decision rejecting a facial challenge to the way the Department of Labor and federal courts determine exempt versus non-exempt duties under...more
Nature supposedly abhors a vacuum, but does this principle apply to workplace discrimination, worker safety, and other areas of employment and labor law?...more
Last year in a rare victory for the Department of Labor, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a claim by a Dairy Queen franchisee that the Fair Labor Standards Act prohibits DOL from establishing any minimum salary for...more
2/21/2025
/ Appeals ,
Chevron Deference ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Final Rules ,
Franchises ,
Minimum Salary ,
Over-Time ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
The National Labor Relations Board’s acting general counsel withdrew a memorandum issued by his predecessor that characterized some non-competition agreements with employees as violations of federal labor laws....more
In the wake of President Donald Trump’s withdrawal last month of an executive order that required larger federal contractors to create and implement affirmative action plans intended to increase the participation of women and...more
2/14/2025
/ Affirmative Action ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Private Sector ,
Title VII ,
Trump Administration
For most non-exempt employees, the Fair Labor Standards Act considers time spent traveling during the working day to be compensable working time. Last week, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals applied this principle to travel...more
A broad executive order issued in the first days of the Trump administration has indefinitely delayed a number of changes to safety standards proposed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration....more
During his first week in office, President Trump revoked an executive order that required larger federal contractors to create and implement affirmative action plans intended to increase the participation of women and...more
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of a Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals decision upholding former President Joe Biden’s executive order increasing the minimum wage applicable to employees of certain...more
On Monday, the federal Department of Labor announced a proposed rule that eliminates a special subminimum wage for certain employees with disabilities under the Fair Labor Standards Act....more
Last Friday, a federal district court in Texas issued a decision blocking both rounds of increases in the minimum salary required to claim the overtime exemption for executive, administrative, and professional employees under...more
11/22/2024
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Final Rules ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Minimum Salary ,
Over-Time ,
Salaried Employees ,
Threshold Requirements ,
Vacated ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
With the January 1 pending increase to the minimum salary required to claim exemption from the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime provisions, many employers are facing the need to reclassify as non-exempt workers who will...more
For many employers, the intermittent leave provisions of the Family and Medical Leave Act pose the most difficult issues for providing leave entitlement while accomplishing necessary work tasks. Many companies are familiar...more
Employers have been following legal challenges to the U.S. Department of Labor’s second round of increases to the minimum salary that must be paid to meet the requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s white collar...more
9/20/2024
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Final Rules ,
Minimum Salary ,
Over-Time ,
Salaried Employees ,
Threshold Requirements ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s rejection of its Chevron deference precedent, federal courts have begun to grapple with administrative agencies’ discretion to issue regulations implementing less than precise...more
The Department of Labor’s decision to significantly increase the minimum salary required to claim the so-called white-collar exemptions from federal overtime requirements has prompted legal challenges from employers. ...more
8/16/2024
/ Chevron Deference ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Final Rules ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Minimum Salary ,
Over-Time ,
Salaried Employees ,
Threshold Requirements ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
On Monday, a federal district court in Texas denied a request for a temporary injunction that would have prevented the Department of Labor’s increase in the minimum salary from taking effect for certain employees. The DOL’s...more
7/5/2024
/ Compliance ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Final Rules ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Minimum Salary ,
Over-Time ,
Salaried Employees ,
Threshold Requirements ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
In order to claim overtime exempt status under the Fair Labor Standards Act’s white-collar exemptions, the position in question must meet both the duties and salary tests set forth under Department of Labor regulations. The...more
5/31/2024
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Minimum Salary ,
Multi-Factor Test ,
Over-Time ,
Salaried Employees ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
In recent years, more workers have filed claims for unpaid overtime based on occupations that are potentially subject to specialized exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Some of this litigation involves the...more
Last week, a federal judge in Michigan ordered the U.S. Marshals Service to arrest and imprison a home healthcare agency owner who repeatedly defied a U.S. Department of Labor demand that she provide pay records as part of a...more
12/8/2023
/ Contempt ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Government Investigations ,
Home Health Agencies ,
Payroll Records ,
Prison ,
Subpoenas
In recent years, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has increased enforcement activities in the home healthcare industry. On Tuesday, DOL announced recovery of over $500,000 from an Alabama agency found to have...more
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), business owners and managers may not share in their servers’ tips. In recent weeks, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division announced recoveries against two restaurants...more
Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor and Federal Trade Commission announced that they have entered into a memorandum of understanding for the purpose of sharing information and coordinating enforcement efforts. The...more
Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced a proposal to increase the salary requirement for employers to claim certain exemptions from the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime and minimum wage requirements to...more
9/8/2023
/ Comment Period ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Minimum Salary ,
Over-Time ,
Proposed Rules ,
Salaried Employees ,
Threshold Requirements ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions