California employers who regularly have their hourly workers do brief, after-hours tasks must pay them for the time, the state’s Supreme Court said Thursday. In a case arising out of a Starbucks shift supervisor suing for the off-the-clock time he…
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
US Labor Department Announces FLSA Amnesty Program
What if I told you that conducting a wage-and-hour audit and discovering a Fair Labor Standards Act violation could save you money? “Uh, Eric. Is the air up there in the cloud getting thin?” Hear me out. The PAID program On Tuesday, the U.S. Department…
Before You Settle a FLSA Claim Out of Court, Read This
It is widely understood that the vast majority of lawsuits settle before trial. From a company’s perspective, early resolution ensures certainty and limits legal expense, business distraction and – of course – liability. In recent years, corporate counsel have been…
DOL Announces New Test For Paying Interns
Last week the U.S. Department of Labor announced it was changing its test for whether a company needs to pay its interns. Before we get to the new test, let’s take a step back. The Fair Labor Standards Act is a federal law that…
If You Pay Minimum Wage, You Can Keep the Tips
A few years back, some restaurants around the country made headlines by paying their waitstaff more than minimum wage and putting the kibosh on customer tips. This broke with the traditional way of paying customarily-tipped employees. That is, most employers…
Facing a Misclassification Claim? Here Are Some Ways to Get Your Insurance to Pay
Most businesses, and startups in particular, need to keep costs down. Workers either cannot or do not want to work traditional hours. So begins the boom of the independent contractor model, or the so-called “1099 economy.” But when a startup…
Court Strikes Down Overtime Pay Rule
The Department of Labor rule that would have compelled employers to pay overtime to millions of more workers has been struck down by a federal court in Texas. Agreeing with business groups and the 21 states that had challenged the…
After Hurricane Harvey, Here’s What Employers Must Do
Hurricane Harvey is relentlessly drenching southeast Texas and the surrounding areas, resulting in unprecedented flooding and damage. As the storm rages, many employers are wondering how to respond and what happens next. After the waters and dangers subside — and…
Labor Department Asks Employers For Input On Revising Overtime Rules
Editor’s note: The DOL rule raising the minimum pay threshold to $913 a week to determine who had to be paid overtime was to have taken effect December 1, 2016. However, 21 states and a number of business organizations sued…
DOL Reinstates Valuable Compliance Tool for Employers
On June 27th the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced that it has reinstated the issuance of Opinion Letters by its Wage & Hour Division and unveiled a new website to guide employers and employees in requesting an Opinion Letter….
DOL Pulls Back Policies on Worker Classification, Joint Employers
The Department of Labor this morning announced it was pulling back from two Obama-era policies regarding the classification of independent contractors and joint employer liability. The three sentence DOL statement simply said two guidance letters issued in 2015 and 2016…
At This Company, 40 Hours Means 40 Hours
While some 21st century companies opt for strategies that disrupt the 9-5 workday, Parisleaf, a branding and web design agency in Gainesville, Florida, is embracing the traditional 40-hour-per-week schedule – and that schedule includes a half-hour, catered lunch. “It’s not about…
House Passes Comp Time Bill
A bill allowing employers to pay workers in comp time rather than cash for overtime hours was passed by the House today. On a largely partisan lines, the House voted 229-197 to approve the Working Families Flexibility Act. Six Republicans…
Congress Weighing Comp Time In Lieu of OT
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, when a non-exempt employee works more than 40 hours in a workweek, that employee gets paid overtime at time-and-a-half the regular rate of pay. Under the FLSA, a private-sector employer cannot provide that employee…
Contractor Blacklisting Rules Coming to a Permanent End
Less than six months ago, federal contractors were clutching their pearls over the prospect of having to publicly disclose violations under 14 federal workplace laws, to be eligible for a government contract. The following month, in October 2016, a federal judge iced…
Supreme Court Agrees to Decide On Employer Class Action Waivers
Picture a nerdier version of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, where persuasive legal briefs and sharp oral advocacy are like rear naked chokes and “ground and pound.” The fight card In one corner, we have the Federal Arbitration Act. Among other things,…
With the New Overtime Rule In Limbo, What Should You Do?
The Department of Labor’s (DOL) new overtime rule didn’t take effect on December 1 as many thought it would. Instead, it was temporarily blocked by a federal judge and subsequently appealed by the DOL. With the rule’s fate uncertain, employers…
How to Tell Workers They Won’t Be Getting Overtime
This spring, an estimated four million Americans became eligible for overtime pay, with a new overtime rule doubling the salary threshold to automatic time-and-a-half compensation from $23,660 to $47,476. Yet this rule is now in jeopardy, thanks to a federal…
Judge Suspends Overtime Rule
A federal district court judge issued an order Tuesday temporarily stopping new rules on overtime pay from taking effect. Beginning Dec. 1, employers would have had to pay overtime to an estimated 4 million salaried workers earning less than $913…
How President Trump Is Likely to Impact HR
As we prepare for Donald Trump to enter office on January 20, what changes might his administration bring? Will he honor the former administration’s bold moves around EEO reporting, contractor rules, minimum wage, FLSA, and equal pay laws? Or will…