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
A special provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act allows hospitals and other health care institutions to average employee hours over a 14-day period instead of the usual single workweek overtime basis. Last week, the...more
Human resources professionals’ eyes sometimes start to glaze over when the discussion turns to technical definitions of overtime calculations. However, the meaning of the term “regular rate” under the Fair Labor Standards Act...more
The Department of Labor’s decision to again issue opinion letters in response to employer questions has resulted in some interesting agency positions. Two recent letters address unusual situations not accounted for in federal...more
Last week, we reported on new proposed Department of Labor regulations that would raise the minimum salary for claiming the “white collar” overtime exemptions to $35,308 per year. In addition to the new salary level, the...more
3/18/2019
/ Comment Period ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Minimum Salary ,
Over-Time ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Comment ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
Last year, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division clarified its position regarding work by tipped employees that allows the employer to claim the employee’s tips in order to constitute the full federal minimum wage....more
3/14/2019
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Food Service Workers ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Minimum Wage ,
New Guidance ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Tip Credit ,
Tipped Employees ,
Tips ,
Wage and Hour
On Thursday, the federal Department of Labor released long-awaited proposed regulations that would replace Obama-era increases to the salary level required for employers to claim the Part 541 Executive, Administrative, and...more
In some situations, developing a creative approach toward overtime pay can cost the employer more than if it had simply paid time and one-half overtime in the first place. On February 8, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals...more
2/20/2019
/ Appeals ,
Class Action ,
Damages ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Fluctuating Workweek ,
Jury Verdicts ,
Minimum Salary ,
Pay Rates ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Wage and Hour
Most human resources professionals are generally familiar with the saga surrounding the U.S. Department of Labor’s attempts to increase the minimum salary for claiming overtime exempt status under the Fair Labor Standards...more
Nonprofit entities often question the dividing line between volunteer work and work considered compensable employment. On December 21, the federal Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division issued an opinion letter...more
As previously reported in EmployNews, litigation involving pay for tipped employees continues to vex employers in the hospitality industry. Many of these cases involve varying interpretations of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s...more
11/19/2018
/ Collective Actions ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Food Service Workers ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Minimum Wage ,
Obama Administration ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Reversal ,
Tip Credit ,
Tipped Employees ,
Tips ,
Trump Administration ,
Wage and Hour
Employers in the hospitality industry continue to face class and collective action lawsuits based on alleged violations of minimum wage requirements for tipped workers. Most of this litigation involves interpretation of the...more
Last month, the federal Department of Labor issued a series of opinion letters addressing various questions under the Family and Medical Leave Act and Fair Labor Standards Act. One interesting interpretation involved whether...more
In its recent term, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis that the National Labor Relations Act does not prohibit mandatory arbitration agreements requiring that employment disputes be subject to...more
As we previously reported, the recent federal budget legislation includes a new amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act that resolves a dispute over tip pooling practices. The law overrules a 2011 Department of Labor...more
The line between volunteer and unpaid labor can be difficult to distinguish. When do people freely agree to donate their time and services, and when are they persuaded or even coerced to do so?...more
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division issued a new fact sheet explaining the applicability of overtime exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act to occupations in higher education....more
Last year, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division announced that it would again begin issuing opinion letters with regard to questions about wage payment practices. Many employers suspected that the agency ceased...more