There’s been a lot of buzz about tipped wages as Election Day approaches – and hospitality employers will want to track key proposals that may have a huge impact on pay practices. Former President Trump and Vice President...more
9/3/2024
/ Ballot Measures ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Income Taxes ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Minimum Wage ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Service Charges ,
State Labor Laws ,
Tax Credits ,
Tip Credit ,
Tip-Pooling ,
Tipped Employees ,
Tips ,
Wage and Hour
A federal appeals court just delivered some good news to hospitality employers by blocking the Department of Labor’s infamous 80/20/30 rule, providing immediate relief to employers around the country by vacating the...more
8/26/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Appeals ,
Arbitrary and Capricious ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Final Rules ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Minimum Wage ,
Tip Credit ,
Tipped Employees ,
Tips ,
Wage & Hour Division (WHD) ,
Wage and Hour
Many restaurants utilize tip pools to encourage teamwork, consistency, and customer-focused service – but you may be confused about who can and can’t participate in the pool. You feel confident that your servers and...more
5/17/2024
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Minimum Wage ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Tip Credit ,
Tip-Pooling ,
Tipped Employees ,
Tips ,
Wage and Hour
When Taylor Swift revealed the track list for “The Tortured Poets Department” – a new album she’ll release on April 19 – fans immediately began theorizing about what might have inspired each song. While your #FPSwifties live...more
4/12/2024
/ Ban the Box ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employment Policies ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Job Applicants ,
Notice Requirements ,
Recruitment Policies ,
Remote Working ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Romances
While we respect Taylor Swift’s accomplishments for so many reasons, your #FPSwifties particularly admire Ms. Swift as an employer. From employee appreciation (those legendary tour bonuses sound really nice!) to her...more
Employers across a wide variety of industries are looking to ramp up their hiring efforts as the holiday season begins. Indeed, many businesses will rely on temporary workers to meet the uptick in demand that holiday shopping...more
11/20/2023
/ Confidential Information ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Eligibility Verification ,
Employment Policies ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Minors ,
Misclassification ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Seasonal Employment ,
Seasonal Workers ,
Supervisors ,
Temporary Employees ,
Wage and Hour
Hotel staff often include a mix of tipped and non-tipped jobs, but following wage and hour rules isn’t always easy, particularly if employees perform a variety of tasks. Some workers — such as servers and bartenders — may...more
9/13/2023
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Minimum Wage ,
Tip Credit ,
Tip-Pooling ,
Tipped Employees ,
Tips ,
Wage & Hour Division (WHD) ,
Wage and Hour
Last week’s news that the Labor Department is proposing a hefty increase to the weekly salary requirement to qualify employees for the overtime exemption has put the spotlight on how much you pay your employees – but that...more
9/6/2023
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Job Duties ,
Minimum Salary ,
Over-Time ,
Poor Job Performance ,
Proposed Rules ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
A federal court just refused to block the U.S. Department of Labor’s infamous 80/20 rule, which applies to employers that take the tip credit toward their minimum wage obligation under federal wage and hour law – which means...more
An appeals court just raised the bar for employees seeking to notify other potential plaintiffs about collective wage and hour claims under federal law. Employees may bring such claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act on...more
Do you utilize a tip pool in your restaurant? If so, you are likely aware of the various rules on maintaining a valid, lawful tip pool under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and applicable state laws. You surely...more
Federal wage officials recently announced that two Florida restaurants with common ownership failed to properly calculate overtime pay when their employees worked at both locations in the same workweek – sending a stark...more
3/22/2023
/ Back Pay ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Joint Employers ,
Liquidated Damages ,
Minimum Wage ,
Over-Time ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Tip-Pooling ,
Tipped Employees ,
Tips ,
Unpaid Wages ,
Wage and Hour
More than a year after the US Department of Labor announced the return of the time-keeping nightmare that is the 80/20 rule with new tweaks that encourage even more litigation, the agency just released new guidance that...more
Each week, FP Weekly members receive a practical and cutting-edge checklist of issues to consider, action steps to take, and goals to accomplish to ensure you remain on the top of your game when it comes to workplace...more
Employers in the hospitality industry have been through it all in recent years – from the devastation of the pandemic to ongoing labor shortages to an impending recession. These challenges and dramatic changes have surely...more
1/19/2023
/ Bonuses ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Managers ,
Over-Time ,
Rate of Pay ,
Rest and Meal Break ,
Salaried Employees ,
Service Charges ,
Supervisors ,
Tip Credit ,
Tip-Pooling ,
Tipped Employees ,
Tips ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Wage and Hour
With the labor shortage, you may have started considering expanding your applicant pool to groups of potential employees you had not previously considered, like minors. Even if you have not yet considered hiring minors, you...more
11/15/2022
/ Child Labor ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Minors ,
Posting Requirements ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Rest and Meal Break ,
State Labor Laws ,
Tennessee ,
Wage and Hour ,
Work Permits ,
Work Schedules
Restaurants’ reliance on food delivery apps soared during the pandemic because they provide a convenient way for customers to order from local restaurants and an easy solution for processing restaurant payments and sourcing...more
10/4/2022
/ Delivery Drivers ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Minimum Wage ,
Mobile Apps ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Tip Credit ,
Tipped Employees ,
Tips ,
Wage & Hour Division (WHD) ,
Wage and Hour
Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves recently signed a new equal pay law into effect in an effort to reduce the wage gap between men and women in the state. The “Equal Pay for Equal Work Act,” signed on April 20 and taking effect...more
Hospitality employers who utilize the “tip credit” under federal wage and hour law may feel as if they operate with a bullseye on their backs given the multi-prong assault underway against the practice. Not only are you in...more
How confident are you that you have properly classified your employees as exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), or that your employees’ exempt status has not been affected by COVID-19 workplace changes? Over the...more
It’s been said that from crisis comes opportunity. And given that the COVID-19 pandemic has handed us the greatest collective crisis in our lifetimes, it should stand to reason that we should now be in the perfect position to...more
5/3/2021
/ Business Operations ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Governance ,
Data Security ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Foreign Workers ,
Form I-9 ,
Gig Economy ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Labor Relations ,
Legal Operations ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Remote Working ,
Staffing Agencies ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
Addressing the issue for the first time since the pandemic, the National Labor Relations Board recently released a series of advice memoranda instructing its Regional offices to dismiss various COVID-19 related charges...more
8/19/2020
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Business Closures ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Duty to Bargain ,
Employer Rights ,
Hazard Pay ,
Health and Safety ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Lay-Offs ,
New Guidance ,
NLRB ,
Paid Sick Leave ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Retaliation ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
This blog is littered with posts talking about the various states that are intent on creating a California-like legal test that would make it supremely challenging to classify workers as independent contractors. We’ve done...more
Tastes may differ, but there can be no dispute that the music video for “November Rain,” the ultimate power ballad by the ultimate Hair Nation band of the 1980s, Guns N’ Roses, is the best video ever created. It’s like a...more
11/4/2019
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Paid Leave ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Severe Weather ,
Unpaid Leave ,
Vacation Leave ,
Wage and Hour ,
Weather Policy