In E.M.D. Sales, Inc., et al. v. Carrera, et al, the United States Supreme Court unanimously held that employers need only prove an employee is exempt from overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act by a preponderance of the...more
1/17/2025
/ Appeals ,
Class Action ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
EMD Sales Inc v Carrera ,
Employment Litigation ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Over-Time ,
Preponderance of the Evidence ,
SCOTUS ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
Class Certification Recipe Needs More Flavor: The Fourth Circuit tossed out a class certification order for Bojangles’ shift managers, citing a high level of generality in identifying common policies and overly broad class...more
12/23/2024
/ Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Class Members ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Food Service Workers ,
FRCP 23 ,
Job Descriptions ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Off-The-Clock ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Wage and Hour
Advancing the trend of courts unwilling to rubber stamp the conditional certification of FLSA collective actions, Publix developed an early record of evidence that—when properly scrutinized—warranted the denial of collective...more
12/10/2024
/ Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Collective Actions ,
Employees ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Off-The-Clock ,
Popular ,
Publix ,
Wage and Hour
A federal district judge has vacated the U.S. DOL’s 2024 rulemaking increasing the minimum salary employers must pay to exempt executive, administrative, and professional employees. That minimum now reverts to an annualized...more
11/19/2024
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Final Rules ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Labor Reform ,
Minimum Salary ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Over-Time ,
Salaried Employees ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Vacated ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
Seyfarth Synopsis: On September 11, 2024, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held in Mayfield v. U.S. Department of Labor that the Secretary’s salary test for evaluating overtime exemptions are valid...more
9/13/2024
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Final Rules ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Minimum Salary ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Over-Time ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Salaried Employees ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
Seyfarth Synopsis: As reported by Seyfarth, the Fifth Circuit’s January 2021 decision in Swales v. KLLM Transport Services, LLC and the Sixth Circuit’s May 2023 decision in Clark v. A&L Homecare and Training Center, et al....more
Seyfarth Synopsis: While reversing a grant of summary judgment in favor of an employer based on the de minimis doctrine, the Ninth Circuit held that the doctrine still can apply under the FLSA....more
Seyfarth Synopsis: While reversing a grant of summary judgment in favor of an employer based on the de minimis doctrine, the Ninth Circuit held that the doctrine still can apply under the FLSA....more
A new piece of legislation introduced in Congress, if enacted, would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to establish 32-hour workweek for non-exempt employees, with no loss in pay. While the bill is unlikely to gain steam, it...more
3/22/2024
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Labor Reform ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Popular ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Wage and Hour ,
Work Schedules
Seyfarth Synopsis: With DOL’s overtime exemption rule currently under White House review, we could see its publication sooner rather than later. ...more
3/6/2024
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Final Rules ,
Minimum Salary ,
Minimum Wage ,
OIRA ,
Over-Time ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
Wage and hour litigation and enforcement actions continued as a hot-button concern in 2023, as plaintiffs’ lawyers advanced novel and creative claims and Supreme Court and appellate-level battles took place over long-accepted...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Employers frequently struggle with questions around the compensability of certain activities, classification of employees, and how to structure their policies to avoid Fair Labor Standards Act violations. ...more
10/26/2023
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Doffing ,
Donning ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Unpaid Wages ,
Wage and Hour
Just days before Labor Day, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) unveiled its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”), aimed at revising the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime exemptions for executive, administrative, and...more
8/31/2023
/ Biden Administration ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Minimum Salary ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Over-Time ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Comment ,
Wage & Hour Division (WHD) ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
Seyfarth Synopsis: On June 13, 2023, the Biden Administration announced the release of its Spring 2023 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions (the 2022 Fall Agenda was issued in January 2023). In connection...more
6/20/2023
/ Biden Administration ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employees ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Labor Reform ,
Minimum Salary ,
NPRM ,
OIRA ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
Seyfarth Synopsis: A federal district court held that “boot-up” and “shut-down” time in a call-center environment is de minimis and therefore not compensable....more
Seyfarth Synopsis. Businesses familiar with FLSA litigation are aware of the frustrating ease with which some courts have turned single-plaintiff cases into large-scale collective action proceedings. But the tides are...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The DOL has issued guidance to its staff – that might be relied upon by courts – that any break less than 20 minutes while working from home is compensable time, regardless of the reason for the break....more
Seyfarth Synopsis: On January 4, 2023, the Biden Administration announced the release of its Fall 2022 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions. In connection with the Administration’s new regulatory agenda, the...more
Employers have had to quickly pivot in numerous ways to keep their workplaces operating since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. One such way the workplace changed is through the introduction of COVID-19 screening tests for...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Today the U.S. Department of Labor issued its draft new interpretive regulation (or NPRM) attempting to define employee versus independent contractor status under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The NPRM...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: FLSA practitioners long have been aware that most courts hold that purely private releases of FLSA claims are void, and that a release of an FLSA claim is valid only if approved by the Department of Labor...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: On June 21, 2022, the Biden Administration announced the release of its Spring 2022 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions. In connection with the Administration’s new regulatory agenda, the...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Supreme Court held that no showing of prejudice is necessary to establish a waiver of the right to arbitrate. The validity and enforceability of arbitration agreements themselves is not affected by this...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: On December 10, 2021, the White House and U.S. Department of Labor confirmed their plan to propose new rules to increase the salary threshold for exempt employees under the FLSA and “modernize” the...more
The much-anticipated OSHA Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (“OSHA”) COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard (“ETS”) posted this morning, November 4, 2021, for public inspection. The ETS...more