The “Restoring Overtime Pay Act of 2019” (H.R. 3197, introduced by Rep. Mark Takano of California) would legislate, for the first time in U.S. history, the minimum salary for exemption under the EAP exemptions—a matter that...more
Kansas City, Missouri is the latest jurisdiction (and the second Midwestern city in recent weeks) to enact a law that will prohibit employers from asking job applicants about salary history....more
Washington is poised to become the ninth state to pass a law that would prohibit employers from asking job applicants about their salary history....more
In an opinion letter issued April 29, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division concluded that a “virtual marketplace company” (“VMC”) that connects service providers with consumers is not the employer of...more
4/30/2019
/ Act or Omission ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Economic Realities Test ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Gig Economy ,
Good Faith ,
Independent Contractors ,
Liquidated Damages ,
Minimum Wage ,
On-Demand Services ,
Third-Party Service Provider ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Virtual Marketplace Companies (VMCs) ,
Wage and Hour
Even at a gathering of employment lawyers, HR professionals, and compensation veterans, one of the easiest ways to clear the room is to begin a discussion on the regular rate of pay. Few other topics, even within the general...more
4/11/2019
/ Bonuses ,
Call-Back Pay ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Minimum Wage ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Public Comment ,
Rate of Pay ,
Wage and Hour
On March 26, 2019, New York’s highest court delivered a victory for employers in the home care industry, clarifying that employers need only compensate home health aides for 13 hours of a 24-hour shift, provided the employees...more
4/1/2019
/ Agency Deference ,
Appeals ,
Class Certification ,
Home Health Care ,
Home Healthcare Workers ,
Legislative History ,
New York Court of Appeals ,
NYDOL ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Remand ,
Rest and Meal Break ,
Reversal ,
State Labor Departments ,
Wage and Hour
The U.S. Department of Labor’s proposed new overtime rule was published in the Federal Register on March 22nd. As described in our earlier post, the proposed new rule would...more
3/25/2019
/ Bonuses ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Final Rules ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Incentive Compensation ,
Minimum Salary ,
Misclassification ,
Over-Time ,
Sales Commissions ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
It’s here. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division unveiled its proposed new overtime rule today. We skipped the 200-plus pages of preamble and jumped right to the proposed regulatory amendments themselves...more
Our friends at Bloomberg Law are reporting that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has sent a proposed new federal overtime rule to the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). OIRA is part of the...more
On December 12, Proskauer partners Allan Bloom, Elise Bloom, and Harris Mufson delivered a webinar focused on how recent developments in the law impact the ground rules and key strategies for settlement in four distinct areas...more
12/21/2018
/ #MeToo ,
Class Action ,
Collective Actions ,
Confidentiality Agreements ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employment Contract ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
FRCP 23 ,
FRCP 41 ,
Judicial Review ,
Non-Disparagement Provisions ,
OSHA ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Trump Administration ,
Wage and Hour ,
Whistleblowers
As discussed previously, New York State’s annual increases for overtime exemption and minimum wage go into effect on December 31, 2018....more
Since 1966, Section 3(m) of the Fair Labor Standards Act permits an employer to take a tip credit toward its minimum wage obligation for tipped employees equal to the difference between the required cash wage (currently...more
10/22/2018
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Minimum Wage ,
Obama Administration ,
Rescission ,
Tip Credit ,
Tip-Pooling ,
Tipped Employees ,
Tips ,
Trump Administration ,
Wage and Hour
The Trump Administration unveiled its Fall 2018 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions (the “Regulatory Agenda”) earlier this week. That’s the biannual report from the federal administrative agencies on the...more
In two decisions issued on September 19, the Second Circuit relied on the Supreme Court’s instruction in Encino Motorcars, LLC v. Navarro, 138 S. Ct. 1134, 1140 (April 2, 2018) that FLSA exemptions are not to be construed...more
9/21/2018
/ Appeals ,
Drivers ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Navarro v Encino Motorcars ,
Over-Time ,
Reaffirmation ,
Salespersons ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
Summary Judgment ,
Taxi Cabs ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Wage and Hour
As Hurricane Florence makes landfall in the Carolinas, it’s the right time to revisit employer rights and responsibilities during a weather-related emergency or other major disruption. Here are some typical scenarios that...more
9/17/2018
/ Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Rights ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Flooding ,
Hurricane Florence ,
Local Ordinance ,
Natural Disasters ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Paid Leave ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Payroll Records ,
Salaried Employees ,
Severe Weather ,
State Labor Laws ,
Unpaid Leave ,
Wage and Hour
Summer’s not over yet! On August 28, 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor issued four new letters in response to requests for opinions under the Fair Labor Standards Act. In this most recent slate of letters, the DOL offers...more
Hawaii Governor David Ige has signed into law a bill that will restrict employers from inquiring about applicants’ salary history during the hiring process. In addition, the law prohibits employers from retaliating or...more
Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy has signed into law a bill that will restrict employers from inquiring about applicants’ salary history during the hiring process. The law will take effect on January 1, 2019....more
In its eagerly-awaited opinion in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, the U.S. Supreme Court held on May 21 that class action waivers in arbitration agreements between employers and employees do not violate the National Labor...more
5/22/2018
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Collective Actions ,
Epic Systems Corp v Lewis ,
Ernst & Young v Morris ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Freelance Isn't Free Act (FIFA) ,
Murphy Oil v NLRB ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Preemption ,
SCOTUS ,
Wage and Hour
Vermont has become the latest jurisdiction to enact a law that will prohibit employers from inquiring about, seeking, or requiring salary history information from prospective employees....more
As reported by my colleagues in Proskauer’s California Employment Law Update, the Supreme Court of California established new rules on April 30, 2018 for determining whether a worker is an independent contractor or an...more
In an opinion letter issued on April 12, 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor concluded that 15-minute breaks throughout the day required by an employee’s serious health condition are not compensable—notwithstanding the general...more
The rules on what kinds of travel time are (and are not) compensable for non-exempt employees are complex. As opposed to exempt employees—who generally receive a salary intended to compensate them for all working time,...more
Last month, we discussed some serious concerns about the efficacy of the U.S. Department of Labor’s “PAID” program, under which employers can self-report wage and hour violations to the federal agency and negotiate a seeming...more
In a case of first impression, the Second Circuit held on April 6, 2018 that liquidated damages may not be awarded for the same course of conduct under both the Fair Labor Standards Act and the New York Labor Law....more
4/9/2018
/ Affirmative Defenses ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Double Damages ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal v State Law Application ,
Good Faith ,
Liquidated Damages ,
State Labor Laws ,
Unpaid Wages ,
Wage and Hour