Risk Prevention Strategies: Avoiding Costly FLSA Missteps
What Should I Do If My Employer Failed to Pay Me Wages?
In Makarevich v. USI Ins. Services, LLC, a Massachusetts federal district court judge dismissed a former employee’s claims of discrimination and unpaid wages under the Massachusetts Wage Act, concluding that she had knowingly...more
Would you like to pay three times for the same work? If you are a property owner entering into a construction contract with a contractor, you may be required to do just that. Senate Bill 426, passed by the 2025 Oregon...more
The recently passed 2025 New York State budget bill includes an amendment to the New York Labor Law that will have major implications for employers sued for late wage payments....more
The 2025 New York State budget includes a provision that reduces the potential damages available to plaintiffs for violation of the weekly pay requirement of the New York Labor Law....more
When litigating claims under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), litigants are aware of long-standing case law that essentially awards a prevailing plaintiff with their attorneys’ fees absent extraordinary...more
In Naranjo v. Spectrum Security Services, the case’s second appearance before the California Supreme Court in two years, the Supreme Court confirmed that an employer does not incur civil penalties for failing to report unpaid...more
The California Supreme Court concluded that the “good faith” defense applies to claims seeking to impose penalties under California Labor Code section 226. An employee must show that an employer’s failure to comply with...more
On March 28, 2024, in Sutton v. Jordan’s Furniture, Inc., the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) upheld a Massachusetts Superior Court decision finding the furniture retailer’s commission-based compensation scheme...more
On January 3, 2024, the defendant in Heppard v. Dunham’s Athleisure Corporation filed an interlocutory appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, arguing that the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: California Labor Code section 1102.5 protects employees who disclose what they believe to be violations of the law. The Supreme Court of California has ruled that such disclosures are protected even if the...more
Earlier this week, the California Court of Appeal reached a decision that may ease employers’ worries when presented with a wage and hour lawsuit. California’s plaintiff-friendly laws provide avenues for plaintiffs to...more
On October 24, 2022, the Sixth District issued a decision in in Camp v. Home Depot, handing employees a major win in the wage and hour arena by holding that Home Depot’s practice of rounding hourly employees’ total daily...more
On September 12, 2022, the California Court of Appeal held that employees bringing successful rest break and meal period claims are entitled to recover attorneys’ fees under California Labor Code section 218.5. The...more
On June 15, the U.S. Supreme Court finally brought closure to the long-running, unsettled issue of whether California’s prohibition against arbitration agreement waivers of the right to bring representative actions under the...more
In a departure from earlier court decisions, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) has imposed additional potential liability on employers for wage-and-hour compliance. In Reuter v. City of Methuen, the SJC explained...more
Overturning nearly 20 years of lower-court precedent, on April 4, 2022, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) issued a landmark decision holding that an employer is strictly liable for treble damages for any late...more
On April 4, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court handed employees there yet another victory in Reuter v. City of Methuen, holding that they are automatically entitled to triple damages for any late payment of final wages...more
On April 4, 2022, the Supreme Judicial Court issued its opinion in Reuter v. City of Methuen, SJC-13121, holding that where an employer fails to pay a terminated employee wages on the “day of discharge” as required by the...more
On April 4, 2022, in Reuter v. City of Methuen, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) held that employers are strictly liable for treble damages for making late wage payments, even when an employee has not yet filed...more
Last week, the United States Supreme Court heard oral argument in Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana, Case No. 20-1573,_ U.S. _ (2022). The case addresses whether the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) requires the...more
The California Court of Appeal has definitively resolved an issue that was until now somewhat ambiguous: Can volunteers in fact volunteer their time for nonprofit organizations without receiving pay or other forms of...more
Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill (S858) that amends the New York Labor Law to make it easier for employees to bring claims against their employers for alleged unpaid and/or owed wages. The legislation, titled the “No Wage...more
Employers are legally obligated to pay employees wages for the work they perform. However, there are unfortunately circumstances in which an employer may refuse to pay their employees. There are at least five things Arizona...more
COVID-19 has had the unprecedented impact of shuttering many businesses throughout the country and leading to record-high unemployment. For some businesses whose operations were hit particularly hard by the pandemic, meeting...more
The California appellate courts, and the California Supreme Court, continue to weigh in on significant and compelling wage and hour issues that affect employers each day. “Hours Worked” Under The Control Test – Going Back...more