In a first of its kind opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (which hears appeals from the federal district courts in Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania) ruled that an employer does not violate the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) when it deducts time from FLSA-exempt employees’ paid time off (PTO) banks … Continue Reading
On February 22, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision clarifying employers’ obligation to pay overtime under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The decision, Helix Energy Solutions Grp., Inc. v. Hewitt, No. 21-984, — S.Ct. — (Feb. 22, 2023), affirmed the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ interpretation of the FLSA’s overtime pay … Continue Reading
On February 9, 2023, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a Field Assistance Bulletin addressing several vexing questions pertaining to compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) when a business employs teleworkers. Field Assistance Bulletins do not have the effect of law, but nonetheless are important … Continue Reading
State and local legislatures were active throughout 2022 in passing laws and ordinances that will impact employers of all sizes and all industries in 2023. Click HERE for our summary of these laws and related developments, including important developments in California, Colorado, Illinois, New York, and elsewhere! If you haven’t already, you might also want … Continue Reading
Virtually every employer in California has repeated the mantra of “no off-the-clock work” to its employees. But what about those minutes that are “on-the-clock” but remain unpaid because of rounding practices? Since 2012, when the California appellate court decided See’s Candy Shops, Inc. v. Superior Court, 210 Cal. App. 4th 889 (2012), employers have presumed … Continue Reading
Employers who have employees log onto computers before clocking into a time-keeping system and who have them clock out before shutting the computer down may be violating the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) according to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cadena v. Customer Connexx LLC. According to the facts in Cadena, employees had … Continue Reading
On October 11, 2022, the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would make it more difficult for employers to properly classify workers as independent contractors under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).… Continue Reading
Squire Patton Boggs Summer Associate Wade Erwin discusses the issues in and implications of an FLSA case set to heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in October. In the upcoming 2022-2023 term, the United States Supreme Court is set to decide in Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc., et al. v. Hewitt (No. 21-984) whether a … Continue Reading
In our post earlier this week, we covered recent developments in state and local labor and employment laws in the states at the beginning at the alphabet. We now turn our attention to developments in the remaining states.… Continue Reading
From our Capital Thinking blog, our public policy colleague Stacy Swanson shares the latest federal employment law developments in in the legislative and executive branches during the week of October 25, 2021. *** This is a weekly post spotlighting labor topics in focus by the US legislative and executive branches during the previous week. In this issue, … Continue Reading
On October 28, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued its Final Rule on tipped wages. As Presidential administrations have changed through the years, so too has the DOL’s view regarding the circumstances under which employers can pay tipped workers less than the federal minimum wage. [See this 2019 post for the immediately prior … Continue Reading
From our Capital Thinking blog, our public policy colleague Stacy Swanson shares the latest federal employment law developments in in the legislative and executive branches during the week of July 26, 2021. *** This is a weekly post spotlighting labor topics in focus by the US legislative and executive branches during the previous week. In this issue, … Continue Reading
On April 9, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2021-2, which provides updated guidance to Wage and Hour Division (“WHD”) field staff regarding the practice of seeking liquidated damages in settlements in lieu of litigation. In so doing, the DOL rescinded a Trump-era policy aimed at reducing the imposition … Continue Reading
From our Capital Thinking blog, our public policy colleague Stacy Swanson shares the latest federal employment law developments in in the legislative and executive branches during the week of March 29. *** This is a weekly post spotlighting labor topics in focus by the US legislative and executive branches during the previous week. In this issue, … Continue Reading
From our Capital Thinking blog, our public policy colleague Stacy Swanson shares the latest federal employment law developments in in the legislative and executive branches during the week of March 22. *** This is a weekly post spotlighting labor topics in focus by the US legislative and executive branches during the previous week. In this issue, we … Continue Reading
As we discussed in a previous post, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) published guidance in December 2020 on employer mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policies. That guidance explained that subject to a few exceptions, employers can require that employees receive the COVID-19 vaccine as a condition of returning to, or remaining in the workplace. However, … Continue Reading
On February 19, 2021, the US Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) Wage and Hour Division (“WHD”) withdrew two Trump-era opinion letters. The first, FLSA2019-6, discussed whether a service provider for a virtual marketplace company (“VMC”) is an independent contractor or an employee subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). The second, FLSA2019-10, involved the compensability … Continue Reading
A recent decision from a federal appeals court highlights the perils for employers associated with lax recordkeeping of employee work hours and wage information. It is well-established that every employer covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) is required to keep certain records for each covered non-exempt worker (i.e., those that are paid on an hourly … Continue Reading
In early 2018, we reported [see here and here] that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) had launched a pilot program to encourage employers to voluntarily report violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) minimum wage and overtime requirements. Employers who opted into the self-reporting pilot program, called the Payroll Audit Independent Determination (PAID) … Continue Reading
On January 6, 2021, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) announced a final rule clarifying the standard under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) for determining whether a worker is an independent contractor versus an employee. This distinction in critical under the FLSA, as employers must comply with its minimum wage and overtime requirements for employees, … Continue Reading
On September 22, 2020, the US Department of Labor (DOL) issued proposed regulations aimed at codifying the classification of independent contractors under federal wage and hour law. If adopted—and the DOL has indicated it plans to fast-track the rulemaking process in order to issue final regulations by January 2021—the rule change would significantly relax the … Continue Reading
In the U.S., employees must be paid overtime compensation at a rate of one-and-one-half times their regular rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of forty (40) per workweek unless specifically exempted by law. For many employees, this means payment of a straight time hourly rate, and then payment of one-and-one-half times that … Continue Reading
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many employers have implemented teleworking and other remote work arrangements for their employees. Because these employees are not physically present in the workplace, there has been some uncertainty surrounding what obligations employers have to under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) to monitor and track hours worked by non-exempt, hourly … Continue Reading
During the week of June 22, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) Wage and Hour Division (“WHD”) issued three Field Assistance Bulletins, each providing guidance to WHD field staff regarding three unique compliance issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, on June 25, 2020, the DOL released five fact-specific opinion letters discussing various … Continue Reading
