The Fair Labor Standards Act contains regulations explaining when time spent by new employees training for their jobs is compensable working time. In most circumstances, the employer must pay trainees for time spent learning...more
On March 23 following a one-day special session, the North Carolina General Assembly passed, and Governor McCrory signed HB 2, a bill that will have widespread effects on legal protections for employees in North Carolina. The...more
In its 2011 Dukes decision, the U.S. Supreme Court limited the circumstances under which groups of employees can maintain class action claims relating to their employment. In that case, the Court concluded that Wal-Mart...more
3/28/2016
/ Admissible Evidence ,
Calculation of Damages ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Collective Actions ,
Commonality ,
Doffing ,
Donning ,
Dukes v Wal-Mart ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
SCOTUS ,
Statistical Sampling ,
Tyson Foods ,
Tyson Foods v Bouaphakeo ,
Wage and Hour
Earlier this month, financial companies won a victory in the long-standing battle over whether employees involved in mortgage originations and approvals are exempt from the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards...more
As litigation and administrative investigations of misclassification of employees for overtime purposes have grown, employers have increasingly turned to alternative methods of pay intended to reduce their overtime...more
The federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act requires employers to provide 60 days advance notice to employees of certain qualifying plant closings and mass layoffs. The WARN thresholds are based on...more
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (which includes North Carolina and South Carolina) is among the minority of federal appellate circuits that restricts the ability of employers and employees to release claims for unpaid...more
Federal Department of Labor regulations have long prohibited employers from requiring that servers, hostesses and bartenders pool a portion of their tips to share with other restaurant employees such as bussers and cooks. For...more
Over the past several years, the healthcare industry and Department of Labor have clashed over the application of the Professional exemption to the Fair Labor Standards Act’s minimum wage and overtime requirements to various...more
Earlier this year, the federal Department of Labor proposed an increase in the minimum salary required to claim exempt status from the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime requirements under its Part 541 “white collar”...more
Employers seeking to avoid disputes in court with employees increasingly seek to use mandatory arbitration agreements. Typically, these agreements take the form of stand-alone written documents, signed by both parties....more
On September 7, President Obama signed an Executive Order requiring federal contractors to provide employees with a minimum of seven days of paid sick leave per year. The sick pay will be awarded at the rate of one hour for...more
The 60-day notice and comment period for the Department of Labor’s proposed changes to its Part 541 white collar overtime exemption rules has expired. The agency reports receiving over 200,000 comments to the proposed rules,...more
In a major defeat for the home health care industry, on August 21, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court decision that had blocked issuance of an interpretation making thousands of currently exempt workers...more
Restaurants and some other hospitality industry employers often take advantage of a sub-minimum wage applicable to employees who receive tips as part of their income. In recent years, a number of these employers have been the...more
Over the past several years, employment lawyers have cautioned their clients with regard to legal risks involved with unpaid internships. As these internships rose in popularity, many of the arrangements failed to meet...more
Last week’s announcement by the Department of Labor of proposed changes to its Part 541 overtime exemption rules appropriately focused on the huge increase to the salary test required for exempt employees. Buried within the...more
On Tuesday, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division released its highly anticipated proposed changes to the Part 541 overtime and minimum wage exemption regulations. These rules implement Section 13(a)(1) of the Fair...more
When an employer signs a general release of claims with a former employee, it expects that the agreement and the consideration provided will prevent future legal claims. However, certain actions, such as Workers’ Compensation...more
The U.S. Supreme Court rejects the overwhelming majority of requests for review of lower court decisions. For some reason, the Court appears to have a soft spot for so-called “donning and doffing” cases. These cases involve...more
The Department of Labor’s long-anticipated revisions to its Part 541 overtime exemption regulations await Office of Management and Budget review before issuance in proposed form. The new rules follow President Obama’s...more
When taking in your car to the dealership for repairs, you are usually greeted by a service advisor. Service advisors compile information needed for the mechanic to diagnose and repair the vehicle. They also provide cost...more
Companies subject to federal agency regulations sometimes face situations where measures taken to comply with such rules work one day, and then result in violations of those rules the next. Federal administrative agencies...more
3/14/2015
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Mortgage Brokers ,
Notice and Comment ,
Over-Time ,
Perez v Mortage Bankers Assoc ,
Rulemaking Process ,
SCOTUS ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
Wage and Hour
Despite years of legal decisions to the contrary, a surprising number of employers still attempt to prohibit employees from discussing their compensation among themselves. The National Labor Relations Board has repeatedly...more
Defendants sometimes assert “equitable” defenses to legal claims brought against them. In some situations, courts have the discretion to bar claims by plaintiffs whose “unclean hands” or other actions make recovery manifestly...more