On August 23, 2024, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a 2021 regulation by the U.S. Department of Labor restricting employers’ use of the tip credit for tipped employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The...more
In 2018, Congress added a provision to the Fair Labor Standards Act prohibiting employers from retaining employee tips or allowing managers or supervisors to participate in a tip pooling arrangement. Today, the U.S....more
9/23/2021
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Food Service Workers ,
Labor Reform ,
Labor Regulations ,
Minimum Wage ,
Penalties ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Tipped Employees ,
Tips ,
Wage and Hour
Wage and hour violations in Illinois just got a lot more expensive. On Friday, July 9, 2021, Governor Pritzker signed an amendment to the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act that increases the penalty for underpaying...more
In week ten, the Biden administration’s labor and employment activity includes the Senate confirmation of Marty Walsh as Labor Secretary, the nomination of former CEO of the Democratic National Committee to the Solicitor of...more
In week eight, the Administration’s labor and employment activity includes the passage of the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, the House’s passage of the PRO Act labor law reform bill, and the upcoming Senate confirmation...more
3/15/2021
/ American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ,
Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Labor Reform ,
Minimum Wage ,
New Legislation ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Relief Measures ,
Sick Leave ,
Sick Pay ,
Tax Credits ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour
In week six, the Administration’s labor and employment activity includes a major roadblock to the $15 federal minimum wage increase, an extension of unemployment benefits by the DOL, and unexpected silence by the...more
3/1/2021
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Biden Administration ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Labor Reform ,
Labor Regulations ,
Labor Relations ,
Minimum Wage ,
Unemployment Insurance ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour
In week four, the Administration’s labor and employment activity includes further reversal of Trump era initiatives at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), including a move to protect “Scabby the Rat”, the nomination of...more
2/15/2021
/ Administrative Appointments ,
Biden Administration ,
Labor Reform ,
Labor Regulations ,
Labor Relations ,
Minimum Wage ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
Unemployment Insurance ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour
There has been extensive reporting on the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill just released by President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team. News reports have highlighted key aspects of the plan including additional $1,400...more
1/18/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Essential Workers ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
Hazard Pay ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Labor Reform ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Minimum Wage ,
OSHA ,
Relief Measures ,
Sick Leave ,
Sick Pay ,
Tip Credit ,
Wage and Hour
The City of Chicago has flirted with enacting a “Fair Workweek” ordinance, aimed at ensuring predictable work schedules for workers, for several years. While the ordinance failed to gain traction in its prior iterations, this...more
On February 15, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor issued Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2019-2, providing additional guidance for Wage and Hour Division staff regarding how to apply tip credit rules for employees who perform...more
2/20/2019
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Food Service Workers ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Job Descriptions ,
Minimum Wage ,
New Guidance ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Tipped Employees ,
Tips ,
Wage and Hour
On February 19, 2019, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed Senate Bill 1, which increases the minimum wage in Illinois to $15 per hour by 2025. Under the new law, the minimum wage will increase from $8.25 to $9.25 on...more
Yesterday, February 14, 2019, the Illinois House approved Senate Bill 1, which increases the minimum wage in Illinois to $15 per hour by 2025. The bill was approved by the Senate last week. ...more
Q. We use the tip credit for servers who work in our restaurant. When service is slow, we ask our servers to pitch in with other jobs around the restaurant, like sweeping up the dining room and cleaning the restroom. ...more
12/18/2018
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Deregulation ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Food Service Workers ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Job Duties ,
Minimum Wage ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Tip Credit ,
Tipped Employees ,
Tips ,
Wage and Hour
If you’ve been paying attention to the news relating to wage and hour law (and really, who isn’t?), you may recently have heard quite a bit about new federal rules on tipped employees, and more recently Congress stepping in...more
4/12/2018
/ Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Deregulation ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Field Assistance Bulletins ,
Food Service Workers ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Minimum Wage ,
New Legislation ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Tip Credit ,
Tip-Pooling ,
Tipped Employees ,
Tips ,
Wage and Hour
There’s been plenty of press regarding the U.S. Department of Labor’s proposed rules governing employer treatment of tips. Commentators are debating whether the proposed changes are a sensible return to the four corners of...more
12/11/2017
/ Comment Period ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Food Service Workers ,
Minimum Wage ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Tip Credit ,
Tip-Pooling ,
Tipped Employees ,
Wage and Hour
If not, you might have a problem.
In 2011, the U.S. DOL published a regulation mandating that restaurants who count tips toward the minimum wage as permitted under the Fair Labor Standards Act have to notify employees...more
Last week, outgoing Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez released a farewell “Memorandum to the American People.” It mostly reads as a recap of the DOL’s news releases over the past several years, touting various DOL initiatives...more
A number of new state or local laws are set to take effect in Illinois in 2017 which will require employers to update their employee handbooks, employment agreements, and other policies and procedures. We address the key...more
12/23/2016
/ Bereavement Leave ,
Domestic Workers ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Employee Privacy Rights ,
Employment Contract ,
Forced Retirement ,
Human Trafficking ,
Minimum Wage ,
New Legislation ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Paid Sick Leave Act ,
Passwords ,
Posting Requirements ,
Sick Leave ,
Social Media ,
State and Local Government ,
Victims' Economic Security and Safety Act (VESSA)
Just a quick update on a couple of our recent stories for you wage and hour litigation junkies:
Back on December 5, a three-judge panel of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed dismissal of a case in which two former...more
Back in August, the National Labor Relations Board threw the higher education community a curve ball ruling that student assistants at Columbia University were employees under the National Labor Relations Act, and were...more
12/7/2016
/ Colleges ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Educational Institutions ,
Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Field Operations Manual ,
Minimum Wage ,
NCAA ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
School Sports ,
Student Athletes ,
Universities ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wages
Like the rest of the country, employers and HR professionals are left wondering what Donald Trump’s unexpected election as President means for the country. The Trump campaign was often light on detailed policy proposals, but...more
11/15/2016
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Arbitration ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Deportation ,
E-Verify ,
Employee Restrooms ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Equal Pay ,
Executive Orders ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
H-1B ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Immigrants ,
Judicial Appointments ,
LGBTQ ,
Maternity Leave ,
Minimum Salary ,
Minimum Wage ,
NLRB ,
Over-Time ,
Presidential Nominations ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Right to Work ,
SCOTUS ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Title VII ,
Transgender ,
Trump Administration ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
Hospitality industry employers take note: If you claim a “tip credit” toward the minimum wage for any of your employees, you need to make sure that all tips are properly distributed to employees. A recent case from the Fifth...more
6/23/2016
/ 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 sexual harassment lawsuits started becoming a major liability issue for employers, many employers sensibly responded by requiring their supervisory employees to go through mandatory anti-harassment training. There is at...more
Q. We offer free lunches to our food service employees. Can we count the cost of these lunches as part of our employees' compensation?
A. The short answer is yes, but as we all know, there's no such thing as a free...more
Agencies and other third-party employers of live-in household employees and home companionship providers, take note: the long-delayed regulations reclassifying many of these workers as non-exempt employees entitled to minimum...more
9/24/2015
/ Appeals ,
Companionship Exemptions ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Domestic Workers ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Healthcare ,
Home Health Care ,
Home Healthcare Workers ,
Minimum Wage ,
Misclassification ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Wage and Hour