#WorkforceWednesday®: DOL Authority Challenged - Key Rulings on Overtime and Tip Credit - Employment Law This Week®
FLSA and Wage and Hour Issues for Restaurants
#WorkforceWednesday: EEOC Withdraws, DOL Rolls Back, and OSHA Expands - Employment Law This Week®
Employment Law This Week®: SCOTUS Vacates Pay-Equity Ruling, NYC Bans Grooming Policy Restrictions, Tip Credit Rule, Workplace Gossip, AI in HR
II-30- Tackling 3 Big Wage and Hour Questions for Employers
I-16 – Kneeling, Indefinite Leave, DC Updates, Non-Compete Consideration, and Pretty as a Protected Class
Employment Law This Week®: D.C. Policy Update, Wage and Hour Administrator Nominee, DOL’s 80/20 Rule
I recently received a U.S. Department of Labor opinion letter addressing a client inquiry about whether an oyster shucker working in the “front of the house” may participate in a tip pool under the Fair Labor Standards Act....more
On Sept. 30, 2025, the U.S. Department of Labor issued four opinion letters on a range of issues under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Three opinion letters offer guidance on...more
The Department of Labor’s (DOL) September 30, 2025 Opinion Letter FLSA2025-03 brings welcome clarity for restaurants and hospitality employers navigating complex tip pooling requirements. By way of background, a DOL...more
On September 30, 2025, the Department of Labor (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD) issued four opinion letters regarding tip pooling for certain front-of-house restaurant employees, emergency pay for firefighters under the...more
DOL’s latest opinion letter cracks open tip pooling rules for customer-facing oyster shuckers. The world of tip pooling under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is a perennial source of confusion and litigation for...more
The U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division issued three new opinion letters interpreting the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) on Sept. 30, 2025. The letters are the first of the new administration and clarify...more
On September 30, before the federal government shutdown, the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor issued four opinion letters on issues of interest to employers. All four of the letters were written by...more
One day before the government shutdown, on September 30, 2025, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued four opinion letters, including FLSA2025-03, which condones including front-of-house oyster shuckers in traditional tip...more
On September 30, 2025, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued an opinion letter reaffirming its longstanding approach to determining which employees “customarily and regularly” receive tips for purposes of compliance with...more
Is an oyster shucker who works in the “front of the house” allowed to share in the tip pool? Are a hotel restaurant and related members club joint employers for overtime purposes? The US Department of Labor (DOL) recently...more
As we discussed here, on July 4, 2025, President Donald Trump signed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act (OBBBA) into law, which included a provision establishing a new temporary above-the-line tax deduction for “qualified tip...more
Employers got a sneak peek at the jobs that will qualify for the “no tax on tips” deduction over the holiday weekend thanks to a list obtained by Axios. The September 1 release provides the first real clarity on which...more
In November 2022, voters in Washington, D.C., approved Initiative 82, the “District of Columbia Tip Credit Elimination Act of 2022,” which set forth a gradual elimination of the use of the tip credit in the District by 2027. ...more
Most employers are prepared for new laws at the start of each year – but did you know that a heap of new workplace laws take effect at the halfway point? Here’s your employer cheat sheet to prepare for July 1 effective dates…...more
The District of Columbia passed emergency legislation on June 3, 2025 that paused an increase to the tipped minimum wage from $10 per hour to $12 per hour, which was originally set to take effect on July 1, 2025. At least for...more
Colorado has enacted House Bill 25-1001, which significantly amends the state’s wage and hour laws by enhancing enforcement mechanisms, expanding employer liability, and strengthening employee protections. The law will take...more
Competing House and Senate bills have the potential to reshape how the IRS taxes tips and overtime wages. The Senate recently passed the “No Tax on Tips Act” while the House budget reconciliation bill proposes deductions for...more
New York restaurant owners must navigate complex tip pooling and tip credit regulations to ensure compliance with federal and state labor laws. Failure to follow these rules can result in lawsuits, back wages, and penalties....more
As the New Jersey legislature considers eliminating the tip credit—a move that would require all restaurant workers to be paid the full minimum wage regardless of tips—the hospitality and business communities are pushing...more
Many employers in hospitality and other service industries take the tip credit toward their minimum wage obligation under federal wage and hour law – but complying with evolving rules has been challenging in recent years....more
New Jersey stands at a crossroads regarding the compensation of tipped workers. Introduced on March 10, 2025, Assembly Bill A5433 proposes a significant change to the New Jersey Wage and Hour Law: phasing out the “tip...more
If you’re a political nerd like me, you may have observed then-candidate and now President Donald J. Trump’s pledge to eliminate taxes on tips. In fact, he doubled down on this promise in his speech to Congress on March 4,...more
In January, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued an opinion letter clarifying managers and supervisors still cannot receive or keep tips, including from a tip pool. This came shortly after the DOL restored the dual...more
On February 21, 2025, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed Senate Bill 8, amending the Improved Workforce Opportunity Wage Act (IWOWA)—Michigan’s minimum wage law—which was set to be reinstated effective the same day. The...more
The Michigan legislature amended the state’s Wage Act on Feb. 20, 2025, in a compromise measure that accelerated the schedule of minimum wage increases but staved off a complete phaseout of the tip credit for workers who...more