Many employers make the mistake of assuming that employees can be treated as exempt so long as they have certain job titles or are paid a salary rather than an hourly wage. That error is especially common in small businesses...more
After a federal judge in the Eastern District of Texas blocked the DOL’s new overtime exemption rule as it pertains to Texas state employees, another judge in the Northern District of Texas declined to issue a similar...more
7/3/2024
/ 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
On Friday, a federal district court granted a preliminary injunction sought by the State of Texas to block implementation of the U.S. Department of Labor’s new rule increasing minimum salaries for overtime exempt employee....more
With the DOL’s new overtime exemption rule set to go into effect on July 1 and no ruling yet on the state of Texas’s motion to put the rule on hold, employers will need to decide what to do with exempt employees whose minimum...more
The clock is quickly ticking down to July 1, when the U.S. Department of Labor’s new rule increasing the minimum salary for many employees to be considered exempt from overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act is supposed...more
6/26/2024
/ Deadlines ,
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 ,
Popular ,
Salaried Employees ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
A common question for schools assessing how to comply with the new overtime exemption rule published by the U.S. DOL is what to do about coaches and athletic trainers in light of the new minimum salary requirement for the...more
5/14/2024
/ Coaches ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Educational Institutions ,
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 ,
Sports ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
The U.S. Department of Labor recently published new final regulations that increase the minimum salary level for most employees to be considered exempt under the executive, administrative, and professional exemptions to the...more
On April 23, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor issued final regulations updating the minimum salary threshold for employees to be considered exempt from overtime requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The...more
On January 9, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor announced a new final rule revising the test for whether workers are considered to be employees versus independent contractors for purposes of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The...more
1/10/2024
/ 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 ,
Over-Time ,
Wage and Hour
In a reminder that it takes more than a big paycheck to be exempt from the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), the U.S. Supreme Court held in Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. v. Hewitt that a...more
2/28/2023
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc v Hewitt No 21-984 ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Over-Time ,
SCOTUS ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
Wage and hour law is full of traps for the unwary. Even compensation practices that are well-accepted across an entire industry can sometimes create huge headaches for employers in the face of a legal challenge....more
9/17/2021
/ Day-Rate Pay ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Minimum Salary ,
Misclassification ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Over-Time ,
Salaried Employees ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
On November 5, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor published a proposed rule that would make it easier for some employers to apply the “Fluctuating Workweek” method of calculating overtime pay for certain non-exempt employees....more
11/5/2019
/ Compensation & Benefits ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fluctuating Workweek ,
Incentive Compensation ,
Labor Regulations ,
Over-Time ,
Proposed Rules ,
Rate of Pay ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Wage and Hour ,
Work Schedules
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Labor issued its final rule concerning overtime exemptions. The rule increases the salary threshold for employees exempt under the executive, administrative, and professional exemptions (the...more
9/26/2019
/ Bonuses ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Final Rules ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Incentive Compensation ,
Minimum Salary ,
New Rules ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Obama Administration ,
Over-Time ,
Salaried Employees ,
Trump Administration ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
Earlier yesterday (March 7, 2019), the U.S. Department of Labor announced new proposed regulations that would increase the minimum salary for employees to qualify for the Executive, Administrative, and Professional exemptions...more
As the holiday lights start to fade, we come to one of the most anticipated times of the year – bonus season!
Such a happy time. Who doesn’t love getting a bonus, and what employer doesn’t like rewarding good performance...more
Q. Our company’s busy season is coming up, meaning we will be asking employees to work longer hours. Our non-exempt employees will all receive overtime pay when they work more than 40 hours in a week....more
Q. Our organization has a policy of paying employees who perform certain kinds of work outside of regular business hours at 1-1/2 times their regular hourly rates. Do we have to pay additional overtime pay for these...more
Earlier yesterday, Judge Amos Mazzant of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued his final ruling in State of Nevada et al. v. United States Department of Labor, et al. Judge Mazzant granted the...more
On June 30, the U.S. Department of Labor filed its long-awaited brief announcing the new administration’s position on the ongoing litigation over the FLSA overtime exemption rules published last May. As readers may recall,...more
Q. Our school district has hourly, non-exempt employees who occasionally perform extra work for the district – for example, chaperoning a school dance, or taking tickets at home games. Do we need to track the hours that...more
President Trump has had a busy week since his inauguration: ordering construction of a wall, starting to unwind the ACA, arguing with the media about how many people attended his inauguration – the list goes on. One thing...more
Judge Amos Mazzant of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas has decided that he will not halt the lawsuit challenging the U.S. DOL’s new overtime exemption rules pending a ruling from the 5th Circuit Court...more
1/5/2017
/ AFL-CIO ,
Appeals ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Final Rules ,
Minimum Salary ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Over-Time ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Trump Administration ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
The pending court fight between the U.S. DOL and a coalition of states and business groups over the new overtime exemption rules will not be resolved before President Obama leaves office in January, even though the 5th...more
It looks like the U.S. Department of Labor’s appeal of the order blocking the new overtime exemption rules won’t be decided before President Obama leaves office. Under the Court of Appeals’ regular rules, the DOL’s opening...more
12/5/2016
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Final Rules ,
Minimum Salary ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Obama Administration ,
Over-Time ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Trump Administration ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
Sorry employers, the ride’s not over yet. For those of you keeping track, the U.S. Department of Labor’s new overtime exemption rules were set to go into effect yesterday, December 1, 2016. However, on November 22, 2016, the...more
12/2/2016
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Final Rules ,
Minimum Salary ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Notice of Appeal ,
Over-Time ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Trump Administration ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions