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
Employers faced with escalating employee overtime costs may consider implementing an alternative pay plan called the fluctuating workweek (FWW). In short, in return for paying a guaranteed salary to non-exempt employees, FWW...more
On May 14, the federal Department of Transportation issued final regulations easing commercial motor vehicle driver time restrictions. The final rules follow an August proposal that was intended to provide motor carriers with...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
As previously reported in EmployNews, a number of states and municipalities have tried to address gender-based pay gaps by adopting legislation that prohibits employers from asking about pay history or setting starting...more
3/9/2020
/ Appeals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
En Banc Review ,
Equal Pay ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Job Applicants ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pay Gap ,
Remand ,
Salary/Wage History ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Wage and Hour
When looking for reasons to explain the persistent salary gap between male and female employees, worker advocates have focused on initial pay negotiations during the hiring process. If new female employees’ salaries are set...more
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division continues to periodically respond to employer questions with regard to particular wage payment issues. Earlier this month, the division issued two new opinion letters...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 week, the House of Representatives passed legislation that would provide qualified federal employees with up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave. This measure enjoys rare bipartisan support, and is expected to pass the...more
The Equal Pay Act allows employees to bring claims of pay discrimination based on gender by alleging that they were paid less than employees of a different gender who perform the same or similar work. This comparator...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
Employers should realize by now that misclassification of employees as independent contractors can result in a host of legal problems. These include claims based on failure to withhold taxes, provide unemployment and Workers’...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
Under the Family and Medical Leave Act, employers cannot penalize employees for use of FMLA leave. Earlier this month, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals found that an employer’s resetting of a perfect attendance program...more
8/21/2019
/ Appeals ,
Attendance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Medical Leave ,
Paid Leave ,
Reversal ,
Wage and Hour
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
North Carolina’s Retaliatory Employment Discrimination Act (REDA) prohibits employers from taking retaliatory action against employees on the basis of workers’ compensation, OSHA, wage and hour, and other state labor law...more
7/22/2019
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Appeals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
OSHA ,
State Labor Laws ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Summary Judgment ,
Title VII ,
Wage and Hour
The U.S. Department of Labor’s new Wage and Hour Administrator Cheryl Stanton recently released her first series of opinion letters on various wage payment topics. Of interest to some employers was a letter asking about...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