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
On June 23, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM), which reverses course from a December 2020 final rule and seeks to resurrect the so-called “80/20 Rule” that governs how...more
Executive Summary: On Monday, June 21, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) proposing limits on the tip credit employers can take during workweeks when tipped employees...more
The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 ("FLSA"), for decades, has permitted employers to pay some workers a lower minimum hourly wage than would otherwise be due if the workers receive at least a minimum amount per month in the...more
If January's minimum wage, tip, and overtime developments forecast what employers should expect throughout the remainder of the year, it could be a challenging 2020....more
Q: I heard New York is changing its rules around tip credits for some types of employees. What do I need to know? ...more
Following months of political maneuvering, including a gubernatorial veto, Connecticut has enacted compromise legislation that attempts to clarify how restaurants and other hospitality industry employers must pay workers who...more
Governor Lamont signs House Bill 7501 into law on January 6, 2020. As we say goodbye to 2019 (and await commencement of the 2020 session of the Connecticut General Assembly in February), the General Assembly via a “Special...more
On October 8, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) proposed changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) regulations governing the wages of tipped employees, specifically, tip credits and tip pools....more
Employers in the hospitality and restaurant industry are poised for celebration: the Department of Labor (DOL) has proposed eliminating a rule that requires tracking the time tipped employees devote to non-tip producing...more
On Monday, October 7, 2019, the Department of Labor (DOL) proposed a new 80/20 rule and tip pooling regulation. First, the proposed regulation, if finalized, will permit employers to take a tip credit regardless of the...more
Rules relating to tip credit and pooling have resulted in significant debate among legislators, regulators, and the courts, leading to confusion, further litigation, and, in many cases, substantial liability or settlements...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Department of Labor’s Wage & Hour Division announced its long-awaited proposed rule related to the FLSA’s tip provisions. The rule would implement statutory changes passed in March 2018; it also would...more
...In a new opinion letter released November 8, 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) decided to eliminate the “80/20 Rule” which had previously limited employers’ ability to take a “tip credit” toward their employees’...more
Q. We use the tip credit for servers who work in our restaurant. When service is slow, we ask our servers to pitch in with other jobs around the restaurant, like sweeping up the dining room and cleaning the restroom. ...more
The application of the 80/20 Rule has been a hot topic in the restaurant industry the last several years because it is the foundation of an onslaught of collective and class action litigation brought by service workers...more
Employers are no longer barred from taking the tip credit for tipped employees who spend more than 20% of their time doing non-tipped activities, according to a new U.S. Department of Labor opinion letter doing away with the...more
The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) has announced it will no longer apply the “80/20 rule” to tipped employees, and will no longer require employers to pay the full minimum wage for time spent by a tipped...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The DOL has reissued a long-awaited opinion letter withdrawing its previous 20% tip credit rule and making clear that “no limit is placed on the amount of [related but non-tipped] duties that may be...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: In an en banc decision, the Ninth Circuit reverses its prior panel opinion rejecting the DOL’s interpretation of FLSA regulations on use of the tip credit to pay regularly tipped employees, finding that the...more
With the World Cup in full swing, it’s difficult to fathom anything else occurring—yet minimum wage, tip, and overtime developments keep happening. Here’s our quick round-up for those of you taking a break from the on-field...more
Buried in the 2,232 page omnibus budget bill recently signed by President Trump was an important change regarding the use of tip pools. ...more
On Tuesday, June 19, 2018, residents of the District Columbia voted to approve Initiative 77, which will incrementally phase out the “tip credit” that many employers use as an offset towards their minimum wage obligations to...more
President Trump recently signed into law Congress’ $1.3 trillion, 2,232-page omnibus budget bill. Notably, tucked away on page 2,025 of the bill, Congress amended the Fair Labor Standards Act to address rules affecting...more
Despite threatening a veto, President Trump signed the 2018 Consolidated Appropriations Act (Public Law No. 115-141) on March 23, 2018. The Act is more than 2000 pages in length....more
The history of tip pooling for employers who do not utilize a tip credit has been a rocky one. Past articles on this site have chronicled an employer’s ability to pool and distribute tips to all employees, including those in...more