Wage and hour issues continue to challenge most employers, especially those in the manufacturing industry. The manufacturing industry tends to be more process- and systems-oriented and generally employ many hourly workers who...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
On August 16, 2023, a unanimous three-judge panel of the Third Circuit vacated and remanded a decision from the Middle District of Pennsylvania ruling that the time spent by oil-rig workers changing in and out of their...more
A federal district court applied the wrong legal test when it held on summary judgment that oil rig workers were not entitled to compensation under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for the time they spent changing into and...more
In Tyger v. Precision Drilling Corp., the Third Circuit Court of Appeals clarified the circumstances under which donning and doffing activities by employees may be compensable under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). ...more
A Pennsylvania battery manufacturer has the dubious distinction of being ordered to pay the largest jury verdict ever awarded to the Department of Labor under the Fair Labor Standards Act - a cool $22 million for failing to...more
Employers grappling with the many questions related to bringing employees back into the workplace safely in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic should pay close attention to the potential wage-and-hour risks attendant to doing...more
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and state wage and hour laws require businesses to record and pay their nonexempt employees for all “compensable time,” including certain activities that occur before an employee begins his...more
The Eleventh Circuit recently affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment to two Florida counties in an action brought against former sheriff deputies under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and Florida Minimum...more
Pending before the United States Supreme Court is a petition for writ of certiorari asking the Court to determine whether an employer may use payments for bona fide meal periods as an offset/credit against compensable work...more
Security apps, passwords, and slow computers can delay the start of the workday for many of us by one to six minutes. For non-exempt employees, this can become an issue. Office employees who clock in using their work...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: As profiled in our recent publication of the 13th Annual Workplace Class Action Litigation Report, the U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings have a profound impact on employers and the tools they may utilize to...more
This past March, we blogged about the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Bouaphakeo v. Tyson Foods, Inc., 136 S. Ct. 1036 (2016), a case in which the plaintiffs alleged that Tyson Foods improperly denied compensation for time...more
In a recent decision, the Third Circuit emphasized the need for employers to capture and compensate all hours worked by non-exempt employees, even if the employer pays the employees for break time that it could treat as...more
Last week, the Supreme Court ended its 2015-2016 session under a cloud of uncertainty. On February 22, 2016, Justice Antonin Scalia, the stalwart of the Court’s conservative wing for 30 years, passed away. Justice Scalia’s...more
On March 22, 2016, the Supreme Court handed down its opinion in Tyson Foods v. Bouaphakeo, 136 S. Ct. 1036 (2016), addressing the question of when statistical sampling evidence may be used to establish class-wide liability. ...more
Employee Who Needed To Assist Disabled Son Could Proceed With "Associational Disability Discrimination" Claim - Castro-Ramirez v. Dependable Highway Express, Inc., 246 Cal. App. 4th 180 (2016) - Luis...more
A U.S. Supreme Court decision expected to potentially change (or at least clarify) the rules on the hot-button issue of statistical modeling in class actions ended up turning much more on case law specific to the Fair Labor...more
In recent years, a number of collective action wage and hour disputes involving the donning and doffing of protective work clothing have made their way through the courts. And in many of those cases, the employers have been...more
A recent U.S. Supreme Court case holding that representative evidence can be used in class/collective actions to the same extent that it could be used in an individual action may not have the broad application hoped for by...more
On March 22, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo. For those unfamiliar with the case, Tyson Foods is a Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) case that involved an alleged failure to pay...more
Plaintiffs can count the first class action decision to be issued by the U.S. Supreme Court since the death of Justice Scalia as a win; although, they did not receive broad authorization to proceed carte blanche, as some had...more
Expectations were high in the class action world for the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo. At first blush, however, Tyson seems to be neither the test case nor the blockbuster decision that...more
In 6-2 decision, the US Supreme Court rejected a challenge to a jury verdict in Tyson Foods v. Bouaphakeo but declined to impose a broad rule for use of representative evidence. On March 22, the US Supreme Court affirmed...more
The Supreme Court’s recent decision in Tyson Foods v. Bouahapeko affirms the use, in some circumstances, of “representative” statistical evidence that produced average times for donning and doffing personal protective gear,...more