Teleworking: Amazing or amazingly complex?
Class Certification Recipe Needs More Flavor: The Fourth Circuit tossed out a class certification order for Bojangles’ shift managers, citing a high level of generality in identifying common policies and overly broad class...more
Advancing the trend of courts unwilling to rubber stamp the conditional certification of FLSA collective actions, Publix developed an early record of evidence that—when properly scrutinized—warranted the denial of collective...more
It seems every week another call center case pops up. These are extremely dangerous cases for employers and that is why I keep writing (or, harping) about them, as a warning to employers, not only those who operate call...more
If an employer adopts a contract or custom of paying employees for pre- or post-shift activities that are not otherwise compensable under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), it can impose conditions on such pay, including...more
In Perry et al. v. City of New York, the Second Circuit upheld a large jury verdict in favor of a collective of workers regarding off-the-clock work. In doing so, the Court reaffirmed the principle that employers will...more
Federal and state wage and hour litigation has been an area of concentration for Industrial/Organizational Psychologists for decades. These cases address alleged discrimination in wage-based employment practices such as...more
U.S. Department of Labor Publishes Proposed Rule on Independent Contractor Classification Under the Fair Labor Standards Act - On October 13, 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published a proposed rule updating the...more
NOTE FROM ROBIN: In March, I began a series of very basic explanations of the federal laws that govern the workplace. The first installment covered discrimination in general, the second installment covered religious...more
How many times have I written about working time cases, so called “off the clock” cases, where the claimed compensable time arises from preliminary or postliminary activities that are tied to (or not) the main job of the...more
Two years ago, these words were seldom used in the business context – remote workers, hybrid schedule, and essential workers. Now they are the norm. During the pandemic, many employers have embraced telework opportunities for...more
Many employers believe that if an employee (or many employees) perform a tiny amount of work, or work-like activity, before their shifts, that brief off-the-clock, activity cannot be “working time” under the FLSA. This is the...more
An unpaid meal break can become a very expensive lunch for an employer, but there are ways to comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to try and minimize the risk. Identifying the Potential Problem - The...more
On November 27, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued a reminder to employers to be mindful of wage and hour requirements this holiday season. As the holiday season ramps up, so does the number of temporary and...more
In Reinig v. RBS Citizens, N.A., a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit overturned a district court’s decision certifying a class of mortgage loan officers (“MLOs”) who claimed they were...more
Ruling also touches upon FLSA conditional certification order - Many wage and hour cases filed today try to name popular targets and to rely upon tried and true allegations....more
I was reading recently about a lawsuit in which four plaintiffs’ law firms tried for years to pursue a class action lawsuit against a Chipotle operation up in Minnesota. The claim was that a shift supervisor at one of the...more
Join hosts Bud Bobber and Keith Kopplin as they discuss important wage and hour topics for manufacturing industry employers, including compensable work, pre and post-shift activities, donning and doffing, meal and rest...more
Smartphones have changed the employment landscape. Non-exempt employees can communicate via text or email any time of day or night, and may be expected to. My habit in the evenings is to check my work email, even if only to...more
This past summer, in a high-profile case brought against Starbucks, the California Supreme Court resolved an open question concerning compensable time. Or, at least it did to some extent. The court held that California...more
This edition of the Employment Flash looks at the new Department of Labor directive regarding contractor compensation practices; recent NLRB developments, including a draft rule regarding joint employment; the rise of...more
“Off the clock” work may prove costly, as retailers face a flood of putative class actions based on claims that employees were not compensated for required work duties. Recently, the parties in Samantha Jones v....more
In Troester v. Starbucks Corp., the California Supreme Court held that the Fair Labor Standards Act’s de minimis doctrine does not apply to wage claims under California law. However, the court left open the question of...more
In AHMC Healthcare, Inc. v. Letona, decided earlier this week, a California state of appeals court considered an employer's use of a time clock rounding system and whether it violated California ...more
In virtually every case, so-called off-the-clock disputes come down to the situations of individuals rather than classwide conduct. An employee may claim that a night supervisor told them not to record time after midnight. An...more
Last week the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) announced its Payroll Audit Independent Determination (PAID) pilot program to mixed reactions. The PAID program is meant to provide a framework for employers to proactively...more