Your assistant sends you an email late in the evening (way after the 5:00 hour) and reminds you that you have an appointment in the morning. You respond: “Thanks for the reminder. Could you please make sure that I have...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
The world of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is upon us and charging fast, “invading” every aspect of human endeavor. Well, the world of wage hour regulation is no different and now the USDOL has reacted with guidance on the...more
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) has published a Field Assistance Bulletin (FAB) on the application of federal labor standards to employers’ use of artificial intelligence (AI) and other automated...more
The New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled that amendments to the state’s wage and hour laws passed in 2019 cannot be applied retroactively. As a result, the provisions in the amendments — including imposition of liquidated...more
One of the biggest threats facing employers is employees performing pre-shift/post-shift work without being paid and then suing, as a class, for that compensation. This trend is especially prevalent in the customer...more
Captive audience Meetingmeetings are on-the-clock meetings (employee attendance is often mandatory) where employers express an opinion on "religious or political matters” – including whether or not employees should join or...more
There have been a number of cases, in different jurisdictions, involving whether time spent undergoing security checks is compensable time. One issue involved is whether the activity is for the benefit of the employer and if...more
At the request of the 9th Circuit, the California Supreme Court recently clarified the definition of “hours worked” under the Labor Code. In Huerta v. CSI Electrical Contractors, the employees worked at a solar power...more
In its recent opinion in Huerta v. CSI Electrical Contractors, the California Supreme Court addressed three inquiries posed by the 9th Circuit. These inquiries specifically relate to the definition of “hours worked” within...more
In Huerta v. CSI Electrical Contractors, No. S275431 (March 25, 2024), the California Supreme Court issued an important decision relating to whether California employers must pay non-exempt employees for certain pre-shift...more
Under the FLSA, for training time to not be counted as working hours, there are specific conditions that must be met. If all four of these conditions are not met, then the time is compensable. These factors are: 1) no work...more
With some help from Charles Dickens. Marlie was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of her burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge...more
Over the last ten years or so, there have been a rash of class actions involving workers employed at various call centers. These cases involve the performance of work prior to the shift and after, so-called preliminary and...more
As you may know, I am a big student of working time cases and often blog about them. One of my favorite categories of such cases are the so-called “dog cases.” These are cases where workers (usually police officers) seek...more
Now that the clocks have changed for the ending of Daylight Savings Time (DST) there may be overtime implications for employers, especially for those employees who work graveyard or overnight shifts. As clocks are set an...more
I love working time cases. And we got a real winner lately. The Third Circuit has recently ruled that clothes-changing time for oil rig workers was compensable. In so doing, the appellate court laid out its framework for...more
In October, Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill (SB) 476, which requires food facility employers to pay an employee for any cost associated with the employee obtaining a food handler card, considering the time it takes for the...more
A federal district court applied the wrong legal test when it held on summary judgment that oil rig workers were not entitled to compensation under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for the time they spent changing into and...more
In Tyger v. Precision Drilling Corp., the Third Circuit Court of Appeals clarified the circumstances under which donning and doffing activities by employees may be compensable under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). ...more
It seems every other week there is a call center case involving preliminary and postliminary working time. Now, it is a Wayfair call center. The customer service workers allege that the booting up of their computers and...more
In any FLSA lawsuit involving unionized workers, the defense lawyer must always look for a preemption defense. That means that the lawsuit is not properly before a Judge because it involves union contract interpretation, the...more
Another working time case where the allegation is workers being compelled to work through lunch. Seems that the health care industry is prone to this as I have blogged about on other occasions. A group of employees has been...more
The US Department of Labor (DOL) has issued a Field Assistance Bulletin (“FAB”) concerning the proper implementation of the new Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act, the so-called PUMP Act. Some of...more
I read an interesting blog post by Seyfarth Shaw on a working time case in a call center. I have often blogged about working time cases, preliminary/postliminary cases, and have lamented that the de minimis doctrine, often...more