The line between volunteer and unpaid labor can be difficult to distinguish. When do people freely agree to donate their time and services, and when are they persuaded or even coerced to do so?...more
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division issued a new fact sheet explaining the applicability of overtime exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act to occupations in higher education....more
Last year, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division announced that it would again begin issuing opinion letters with regard to questions about wage payment practices. Many employers suspected that the agency ceased...more
Last Monday in a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court held that automotive service advisors fall within the Fair Labor Standards Act’s statutory overtime exemption applicable to car salespersons and mechanics. This decision...more
4/9/2018
/ Appeals ,
Car Dealerships ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Legislative History ,
Navarro v Encino Motorcars ,
Over-Time ,
Patent Litigation ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Service Advisors ,
Statutory Construction Test ,
Wage and Hour
The federal Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division recently announced a six-month self-audit pilot program intended to allow employers to review and correct overtime and minimum wage violations. The Payroll Audit...more
For employers in the hospitality industry, tipping policies continue to pose significant litigation risks. A number of restaurant groups have faced recent class and collective action claims based on allegations that the...more
3/7/2018
/ Appeals ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
En Banc Review ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Minimum Wage ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
Tip Credit ,
Tip-Pooling ,
Tipped Employees ,
Wage and Hour
On February 1, the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs sent letters to 1,000 federal contractors notifying them of their selection for compliance evaluation audits. OFCCP informed employers...more
Last year, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division announced its intent to again issue opinion letters in response to wage payment questions posed to the agency by employers and employees. Last month, DOL...more
Last month, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals became the fourth appellate circuit to reject the Department of Labor’s six-part test for determining whether internships at for-profit companies must be paid. The DOL test...more
When involved in a criminal investigation, the cover-up is usually worse than the underlying crime. Last month, a New Hampshire business owner learned this lesson the hard way when he pleaded guilty to charges based on his...more
In 2015, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission adopted regulations that limit the amount of incentives employers can provide employees to participate in wellness programs under the companies’ group medical insurance...more
1/8/2018
/ AARP ,
Affordable Care Act ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
GINA ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Incentives ,
Wellness Programs
Under the Family and Medical Leave Act, employees are entitled to take intermittent leave to deal with a serious health condition. The intermittent leave can be in increments as small as one hour. The employer must maintain...more
Last week, the federal Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division proposed repealing a controversial regulation affecting employers in the hospitality industry. The regulation interpreted a provision of the Fair Labor...more
Last year’s proposal to increase the minimum salary to qualify for exemption from federal overtime requirements hit nonprofit employers particularly hard. While the new salary levels never went into effect, many nonprofits...more
As previously reported in EmployNews, in December a creative group of plaintiffs’ lawyers filed suit against Chipotle in federal district court in New Jersey. The lawyers contended that despite a Texas federal court’s...more
11/22/2017
/ Chipotle Grill ,
Collective Actions ,
Contempt ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Injunctions ,
Minimum Salary ,
Motion for Sanctions ,
Over-Time ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
The Fair Labor Standards Act requires that employees be paid a minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. In Douglas v. Xerox Business Services, LLC, the plaintiffs challenged Xerox’s variable pay system as violating these requirements....more
In recent years, a number of companies have faced lawsuits from unpaid interns who claim that they should have been compensated for their work. The Department of Labor considers internships to be subject to federal minimum...more
Department of Labor regulations issued under the Fair Labor Standards Act (29 C.F.R. § 785.18) state that any break time less than 20 minutes for nonexempt employees is considered compensable working time. Earlier this month,...more
Employees who receive gratuities may qualify for a special federal minimum wage set well below the standard $7.25 per hour. Employers are entitled to use the employees’ tips to reach the full minimum wage under the Department...more
Unlike private sector employers, federal contractors are subject to an executive order that requires payment of a minimum wage in excess of the $7.25 federal level. In addition, that minimum adjusts annually based on cost of...more
Over the past several years, we have received multiple inquiries from employers confronted with claims that they have misclassified service technicians as exempt from the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act...more
In 2011, the Obama Department of Labor (DOL) adopted a rule stating that service industry employers could not implement tip pooling rules, even if they did not claim the tip credit for minimum wage compliance purposes. Tip...more
Late last month, the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced a proposed delay for implementation of its new injury and illness reporting requirements until December 1. The rule originally was...more
On June 15, President Trump signed an Executive Order streamlining the design and approval for apprenticeship programs funded by the Department of Labor (DOL). The Order is intended to entice more employers to begin...more
Most employers know that qualified employees are entitled under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to take unpaid leave from work to care for a spouse, child or parent with a serious health condition. What happens when...more