Employers facing worker shortages are having to use creative means to get their necessary work done. These shortages are especially apparent in the hospitality industry, where restaurants and other employers are scrambling to...more
The seemingly never-ending battle over interpretation of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s tip credit provision took another turn Monday. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division issued proposed rules that would set...more
6/25/2021
/ Comment Period ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Minimum Wage ,
Proposed Rules ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Tip Credit ,
Tip-Pooling ,
Tipped Employees ,
Tips ,
Wage and Hour
On Wednesday, the federal Department of Labor announced its decision to withdraw regulations issued during the final weeks of the Trump administration that defined the difference between employees and independent contractors...more
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, employers found liable for failure to pay overtime or minimum wages can be assessed liquidated damages in an amount equal to the unpaid wages. Prior to the Trump administration, the U.S....more
We have had a number of recent questions from clients regarding when employees must be paid if they are on standby or on-call duty. Typically, this means that the employee must leave a number where they can be reached and, if...more
We had a recent question from a client about the intersection between a somewhat unusual paid-time-off policy and the treatment of salaried exempt employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Under the PTO plan, employees...more
According to U.S. Department of Labor regulations issued under the Fair Labor Standards Act, if a non-exempt employee reports to work in the morning and then travels during the working day to another worksite, that travel...more
On Tuesday, the federal Department of Labor issued proposed regulations defining the difference between employees and independent contractors under the Fair Labor Standards Act. If finalized and deferred to by courts, these...more
One of the most frequently violated provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act involves the effect of bonuses or other incentive compensation on the rate used to calculate overtime. For non-exempt employees, the employer must...more
As many employees continue to work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, on Monday the Department of Labor issued a field assistance bulletin reminding employers of their legal obligation to keep accurate records of all...more
If an employer fails to comply with federal overtime or minimum wage requirements imposed under the Fair Labor Standards Act, it can be held liable not only for unpaid wages, but also for liquidated damages equal to that...more
As with most federal labor laws, employers cannot retaliate against employees who complain about wage payment violations under the Fair Labor Standards Act. What happens, however, when a prospective employee claims that they...more
Section 7(i) of the Fair Labor Standards Act provides an exemption from the usual overtime pay requirements for certain commissioned employees of retail or service establishments. For decades, the U.S. Department of Labor has...more
The Fair Labor Standards Act allows employers to pay non-exempt employees whose hours vary under a pay method that can reduce the impact of unpredictable working time. Under the fluctuating workweek (FWW) method, employees...more
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division released a “Frequently Asked Questions” guidance on the impact of employer’s COVID-19 containment measures on pay requirements under the Fair Labor Standards...more
In April 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division published proposed rules dealing with the definition of joint employment under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Joint employment status means that two or more...more
As of January 1, new minimum salary levels took effect for employers claiming certain exemptions from the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. For employees who meet the duties requirements of the executive,...more
Employees subject to the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act must pay time and one-half the employee’s regular rate of pay for hours worked over 40 in a given week. As employers began offering new perks to...more
Last Monday, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division issued proposed regulations that would clarify employers’ use of incentive pay under the fluctuating workweek (FWW) pay method. FWW is an alternative pay plan...more
11/11/2019
/ Appeals ,
Bonuses ,
Comment Period ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Incentive Plans ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Fluctuating Workweek ,
Over-Time ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Wage and Hour
Last year, Congress amended the Fair Labor Standards Act to clarify circumstances under which employers can require employees who receive tips to share (or pool) those gratuities with other employees. Last Tuesday, the...more
10/14/2019
/ Comment Period ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Minimum Wage ,
New Amendments ,
Proposed Rules ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Tip Credit ,
Tip-Pooling ,
Tipped Employees ,
Tips ,
Wage and Hour
Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division adopted final regulations revising the salary requirements for employers that claim the executive, administrative, or professional exemptions from the minimum...more
Perhaps the most frequently violated provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act is that law’s requirement that non-discretionary bonuses be included in non-exempt employees’ regular rate of pay used for purposes of calculating...more
In recent months, we have had several situations where clients were assessed back wages for overtime relating to misclassification of managerial employees. Under 29 C.F.R. §541.104, employees eligible for the executive...more
Interstate truck drivers are generally exempt from the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act. However, this statutory exemption does not apply to minimum wage obligations, and employers are therefore required...more
Over the past decade, EmployNews has chronicled waves of class and collective action litigation based on claims that employees have been misclassified as exempt from the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act....more