The Supreme Court of the United States rejected a higher standard of proof for employers to demonstrate that an employee is exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), providing clarity for FLSA disputes across the...more
In a significant ruling, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas has set aside a Department of Labor (DOL or Department) 2024 Rule, which sought to raise the minimum salary level for exemptions...more
12/3/2024
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Minimum Salary ,
Over-Time ,
Salaried Employees ,
Texas ,
Vacated ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
Recently, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit addressed whether staff nurses for the City and County of San Francisco (the City) were entitled to time-and-a-half overtime or whether the method of...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently determined that the Department of Labor (DOL) violated the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) in issuing its “Tip Credit” final regulations and vacated the final rule....more
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published its final independent contractor rule on January 10, 2024. The final rule revises the Trump administration’s interpretation of “employee” under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)...more
1/17/2024
/ ABC Test ,
Classification ,
Commercial Litigation ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Definition ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Final Rules ,
Independent Contractors ,
New Rules ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Wage and Hour
A federal court in Arizona recently rejected a defense for Arizona employers seeking to avoid liability for unpaid wages under the Arizona Wage Act (AWA). In Arrison v. Walmart, 2023 WL 4421425 (D. Ariz. July 10, 2023), the...more
9/1/2023
/ Arizona ,
Class Action ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Retailers ,
State Legislatures ,
Summary Judgment ,
Virus Testing ,
Wage Act ,
Wage and Hour
Recently, in Helix Energy Solutions Group v. Hewitt, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a daily-rate worker who earned over $200,000 annually was not exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA) overtime requirements. In...more
3/3/2023
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc v Hewitt No 21-984 ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Minimum Salary ,
Multi-Factor Test ,
Over-Time ,
Salaried Employees ,
SCOTUS ,
Wage and Hour
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held on October 24, 2022, in Cariene Cadena et al. v. Customer Connexx, LLC et al., No. 21-16522, that the time a group of call center workers spent booting up their computers...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (the Proposed Rule) on October 13, 2022, that proposes guidance on determining employee or independent contractor classification under the Fair...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) announced in May 2021 that it was withdrawing the rule called “Independent Contractor Status Under the Fair Labor Standards Act.” As anticipated, the Biden administration rescinded this Trump-era...more
5/13/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Definition ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Final Rules ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Multi-Factor Test ,
Revocation ,
Trump Administration
On January 7, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued its highly anticipated final rule codifying its interpretation of independent contractor status under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The final rule comes in...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published an opinion letter, FLSA 2020-16, considering whether the travel time of foremen and laborers is compensable in three different scenarios. The DOL makes clear that, for some...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently published an opinion letter explaining compensability under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of time spent in voluntary continuing education programs. In FLSA 2020-15, the DOL...more
11/19/2020
/ Compensation ,
Continuing Education ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Training ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Opinion Letter ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Voluntary Participation ,
Wage and Hour
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) will see significant changes under a Biden administration. However, the nature and the degree of those changes will depend heavily on how Biden fills senior roles not only at DOL but also in...more
11/13/2020
/ Biden Administration ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Definition ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Independent Contractors ,
OFCCP ,
OLMS ,
OSHA ,
Pay Discrimination ,
Trump Administration
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on September 22, 2020, seeking to codify the independent contractor/employee worker classifications into the Fair Labor Standards Act’s...more
9/28/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Definition ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
NPRM ,
Proposed Rules ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Wage and Hour
The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Final Rule revising the joint employer regulations under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) took effect on March 16, 2020, (Final Rule). On September 8, 2020, the Hon. Gregory H....more
9/15/2020
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Records ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Final Rules ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Joint Employers ,
Misclassification ,
Staffing Agencies ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Subcontractors ,
Wage and Hour
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) recently issued four opinion letters addressing various exemption and compensation requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), including standards for...more
On June 7, 2017, U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta announced the withdrawal of the U.S. Department of Labor’s 2015 and 2016 informal guidance on joint employment and independent contractors...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently released 12 questions and answers in a publication called “Misclassification Mythbusters.” It appears that the publication is intended to educate/inform individuals about whether...more
The Supreme Court issued its decision in Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo on March 22, 2016. The Court held that a group of employees in a class action could use a statistical study to establish the employer’s liability for...more
3/29/2016
/ Admissible Evidence ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Doffing ,
Donning ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
SCOTUS ,
Statistical Sampling ,
Tyson Foods v Bouaphakeo ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Wage and Hour