As we have previously addressed, the U. S. Department of Labor (DOL) has issued its final rule raising salary thresholds for overtime exemptions under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) effective January 1, 2025. ...more
5/20/2024
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Final Rules ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Labor Reform ,
Minimum Salary ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Over-Time ,
Salaried Employees ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
Remarkably, Mr. Foxworthy’s name comes up frequently when talking about whether workers have been properly classified as independent contractors. Not because there is anything funny about that issue; there isn’t. And not...more
For decades, many employers have rounded non-exempt employees’ work time when calculating their compensation. Maybe they have rounded employee work time to the nearest 10 minutes, maybe to the nearest quarter hour, but they...more
The California Supreme Court has issued its highly anticipated decision in Adolph v. Uber Technologies, Inc., concluding that plaintiffs who must arbitrate their “individual” PAGA claims are not deprived of standing to pursue...more
We seem to say this every year — December always seems to go by far too fast. And with holidays and vacations, not to mention many employees still working remotely, it’s not unusual for matters to be put off until the new...more
A number of years ago, I received a kind note around the holidays from my opposing counsel in a wage-hour class action, thanking me and my firm for being their “partners” in addressing employment issues....more
Employers with operations both large and small in California are all too familiar with California’s Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”), the controversial statute that permits a single employee to stand in the shoes of the...more
December is not the shortest month of the year, but it always seems to go by the fastest. ...more
Before ringing in the New Year, employers should carefully evaluate whether they need to adjust their current practices to ensure that they remain compliant with state and local laws, including those relating to minimum wage...more
More than three years after its landmark decision in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, the United States Supreme Court has granted certiorari in Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana to determine whether Epic Systems extends to...more
California law generally requires employers to pay non-exempt employees a premium of one hour of pay for non-compliant meal and rest periods. Employers have typically paid such premiums by using the employees’ standard hourly...more
California law generally requires that non-exempt employees be paid 1.5 times their “regular rate of pay” for work performed beyond 40 hours in a week or 8 hours in a day – and twice their “regular rate of pay” for time...more
For more than 80 years, federal law has provided a general right to premium pay for working overtime hours, originally just for covered employees, then later for employees of covered enterprises. The laws of more than 30...more
On January 29, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor announced the immediate termination of its Payroll Audit Independent Determination Program (PAID). Launched in March 2018 by the Wage and Hour Division (WHD), PAID was...more
At the time we are posting this, we are just weeks away from the inauguration of President-Elect Joseph Biden. Although perhaps not at the very top of the list of questions about the forthcoming Biden administration,...more
We have written frequently here about AB5, California’s controversial law that creates an “ABC” test that must be satisfied in order for a worker to be treated as an independent contractor. ...more
9/8/2020
/ ABC Test ,
Artists ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Freelance Workers ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Regulations ,
Misclassification ,
Music Industry ,
New Legislation ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
Writers
As we wrote here just several days ago, Californians were facing the seemingly unimaginable this week– the possibility of living without ride share services for the foreseeable future....more
8/21/2020
/ ABC Test ,
Ballot Measures ,
Delivery Drivers ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Ridesharing ,
State Attorneys General ,
State Labor Laws ,
TRO ,
Wage and Hour
To some, it may feel like it was a lifetime ago when ride share companies did not even exist. In those seemingly long-ago days, people relied upon friends to drive them to or from the airport, or assigned designated drivers...more
8/19/2020
/ Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Lyft ,
Misclassification ,
Ridesharing ,
State Labor Laws ,
TRO ,
Uber ,
Wage and Hour
We have written here frequently about California’s controversial AB 5 law, which permits companies to treat workers as independent contractors only if they satisfy a stringent “ABC” test....more
8/12/2020
/ ABC Test ,
Ballot Measures ,
Delivery Drivers ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Ridesharing ,
State Attorneys General ,
State Labor Laws ,
TRO ,
Wage and Hour
As we wrote here recently, two federal courts in California rejected Postmates’ attempt to escape having to defend thousands of individual arbitrations filed by drivers contending they have been misclassified as independent...more
Let me be the millionth person to say that we are living in unprecedented times.
Well, unless you count the Spanish Flu, which few of us probably dealt with as that was more than a century ago....more
5/16/2020
/ After-Hours Work ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Force Majeure Clause ,
Reimbursements ,
Telecommuting ,
Wage and Hour
For those of you who may have been wondering whether the California Attorney General’s office was still open during the statewide stay-at-home order triggered by the coronavirus, the answer is yes – as evidenced by a...more
5/8/2020
/ ABC Test ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Dynamex ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Lyft ,
Misclassification ,
State Labor Laws ,
Uber ,
Wage and Hour
In the coming days, weeks and perhaps months, many employers will have difficult decisions to make about their operations and their workforces. With their operations shutting down or running at less than capacity, many...more
It is not unusual for businesses at risk of employee theft to implement security screenings for employees as they exit the employer’s facilities. Such screenings are especially common in industries where small, costly items...more
As we have written here, the day before California’s controversial AB 5 was set to go into effect, U.S. District Court Judge Roger Benitez issued a temporary restraining order to block enforcement of the law as to...more
2/3/2020
/ ABC Test ,
Commercial Truck Drivers ,
Dynamex ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994 (FAAAA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Freelance Workers ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Regulations ,
Misclassification ,
Motor Carriers ,
New Legislation ,
Preemption ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
TRO ,
Trucking Industry ,
Trucking Regulations ,
Wage and Hour