On July 26, 2018, the California Supreme Court issued a long-awaited decision in Troester v. Starbucks Corporation, in which it considered the applicability of the de minimis doctrine to claims for unpaid wages under the California Labor Code. The de minimis doctrine is an application of the legal maxim that “the law does not concern itself with … Continue Reading
On April 2, 2018, in a 5-4 decision, the United States Supreme Court held that automobile service advisors are not entitled to overtime pay. Although the precise holding is of limited application because few companies outside car dealerships employ individuals as automobile service advisors, the Supreme Court’s analysis will have wide-reaching application. Departing from years … Continue Reading
On March 23, 2018, President Trump signed into law the 2,232-page Omnibus Appropriations bill – HR 1625, Consolidated Appropriations Act for FY 2018, which funds the government for the rest of the fiscal year. Included in that bill were a few paragraphs that prohibit restaurant owners from sharing server tips with supervisors, managers, or themselves. … Continue Reading
On Jan. 5, 2018, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) announced that it will utilize the so-called “primary beneficiary” test to determine whether interns are employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). This announcement marks a significant policy change from the DOL’s previous guidance which had been criticized by several courts as overly … Continue Reading
Shareholder Jerrold Goldberg, with the assistance of Practice Group Attorney Melanie Sarver, recently published an article in Law360 discussing the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The FLSA requires the payment of overtime to all employees unless their work fits within one of the statute’s exemptions. The burden of proof for establishing that an FLSA exemption … Continue Reading
A Sixth Circuit opinion filed this week reaffirms what experienced Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) attorneys have known for some time: when it comes to employer arbitration programs, they are not always the panacea that employers (and their lawyers) believe them to be. In Taylor v. Pilot Corp. et al., Case No. 16-5326, a plaintiff-employee … Continue Reading
On June 7, 2017, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) reversed its previous guidance issued during the administration of President Barack Obama that broadened the circumstances in which employers could be held liable for misclassification of employees as independent contractors, and as a joint employer with a separate business. New Secretary of Labor Alex … Continue Reading
On July 14, 2016, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) published a revised proposal to collect data on employees’ compensation and hours worked through the EEO-1 reports that larger employers are required to submit annually. Notwithstanding numerous public comments stressing the burdens that this reporting requirement would impose on employers and the limited statistical utility that … Continue Reading
On Tuesday, June 21, 2016, in Greenberg Traurig’s Las Vegas office, and Wednesday, June 22, 2016, in Greenberg Traurig’s Phoenix office, GT will host a Roundtable Discussion regarding the new regulations issued by the DOL. These regulations will likely go into effect in a few weeks, changing one of the key components of federal wage and hour … Continue Reading
As we previously discussed here, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) recently changed the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA’s or the Act’s) Salary Level and Salary Basis tests for the white collar exemptions to the Act’s overtime requirement. Effective Dec. 1, 2016, employees must be paid at least $47,476 annually and $913 per week … Continue Reading
On May 18, 2016, President Obama and U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Thomas Perez announced the issuance of the Final Rule updating the salary requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime exemptions. The increase in salary standard, which will go into effect on Dec. 1, 2016, boosts the minimum salary level for exempt status … Continue Reading
As it really is not in the GT California Labor and Employment Group’s interest for this to be the final straw that causes national employers to throw up their hands in surrender and decamp from California, we offer an interim planning guide for developing the 2017 payroll budget. The larger import of the FLSA regulations … Continue Reading
On May 18, 2016, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) unveiled new overtime regulations that represent the largest change in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in over two-decades. The final version of the new FLSA rule will increase the salary threshold from $23,660 annually ($455/week) to $47,476 annually ($913/week) for a worker to … Continue Reading
Jim Boudreau, shareholder at Greenberg Traurig, was recently quoted in two articles in Bloomberg BNA’s Labor and Employment Blog series discussing issues relating to Article III in Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) class and collective actions. Jim also discussed the federal courts’ reaction to Campbell-Ewald and the potential for due process issues that may arise … Continue Reading
Some important Supreme Court cases are hard to accurately capture in a sound bite, and this is one of them. In a narrow holding, the Supreme Court issued a 6-2 decision in Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo, 577 U.S. ___ (2016), addressing class claims for overtime compensation certified under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 … Continue Reading
On Monday, March 14, 2016, the Department of Labor (DOL) sent its final rule revising the white collar overtime exemption regulations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The OMB’s review is the final step in the regulatory process before the revised regulations are … Continue Reading
On March 14, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) via its Wage and Hour Division forwarded its proposed modifications to the white collar exemptions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to the Congressional Office of Management and Budget (OMB). This is the final step before the new regulation is officially published, allowing Congress … Continue Reading
The Seventh Circuit recently affirmed the district court’s decision in Callahan v. City of Chicago, 75 F. Supp. 3d 791 (N.D. Ill. 2015). Callahan, a taxi driver in Chicago, brought suit in district court against the city, pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), arguing that the city’s extensive regulations of the taxi industry … Continue Reading
In a pair of published opinions, raising novel employment issues in this Circuit, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals addressed the test for determining whether a “temporary” worker is an “employee” eligible to assert Title VII claims against the company which contracts their services, and the test for determining whether time spent on meal breaks … Continue Reading
Today, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued an Administrator’s Interpretation regarding the misclassification of employees as independent contractors. Having received numerous complaints from workers on this issue over the last several years, the DOL has concluded that most workers are employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). The 15-page memorandum emphasizes that proper … Continue Reading
On June 30, for the first time in a decade, the Department of Labor (DOL) proposed a rule to broaden federal overtime pay regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The proposed changes will affect an estimated 5 million Americans and their employers, making it more difficult to meet the overtime exemption. The DOL … Continue Reading
We previously wrote a Client Alert about the Department of Labor’s (DOL) new regulations that were poised to eliminate the exemption from the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA) minimum wage and overtime provisions for certain home-health care workers. As expected, the new regulations were met with significant pushback from certain home care employers and industry … Continue Reading
Written by Laurent Badoux and Christiana L. Signs In a much anticipated decision this week, the Supreme Court held that activities that occur before or after a work shift are not compensable unless they are “intrinsic” to employees’ principal work duties. The decision restored a measure of predictability regarding the scope of compensability for pre- … Continue Reading
A bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives that would end the issuance of special certificates that allow employers to pay employees with disabilities below minimum wage.
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