As we reported back in October 2015 a car dealership, Encino Motorcars, petitioned the Supreme Court to “restore uniformity” to the enforcement of legal precedent and hold that service advisors are exempt from the FLSA’s overtime requirements. On Friday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case and hopefully resolve the issue once and for
The NLRB’s New Target: FLSA Settlement Agreements
The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or the “Board”) has once again weighed in on employer use of confidentiality and non-disparagement language, this time in the settlement arena. Recently, the NLRB withheld its approval of a global settlement of Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) claims and Board charges, stating its objection to the negotiated non-disparagement and confidentiality provisions in the parties’ settlement agreement.
The employer, Liberato Restaurant, agreed to a $1 million settlement of an FLSA class action lawsuit brought by current and former employees who alleged non-payment of tips and overtime wages. As part of the settlement, plaintiffs agreed to dismiss charges filed with the NLRB. The settlement agreement included promises by both parties to not disparage the other and not to disclose the terms of the agreement to the public. Such provisions are routinely included in settlement agreements, and have been accepted in settlements involving wage and hour claims.Continue Reading The NLRB’s New Target: FLSA Settlement Agreements
New Exemption Rules May Be Delayed To Late 2016
Waiting is the hardest part.
Ever since the Department of Labor issued its proposal to substantially increase the minimum salary level needed to classify an employee as an exempt executive, administrative or professional employee, employers have been asking when the new rules will take effect. This is not an academic question: many organizations have long
Friendly Reminder: The Computer Employee Exemption
We recently received a question regarding whether an employer could classify certain IT employees as exempt under the Computer Employee exemption. With the long-awaited final DOL overtime rules for the white collar exemptions yet to make their appearance, we thought this would be a good opportunity to switch gears and remind you of the general
DOL to Pay $1.5 Million to Employer for Bad Faith Investigation
In an interesting turn of events and what I’m sure will be gratifying for some employers, the Department of Labor has agreed to pay Gate Guard Services $1.5 million to settle claims involving the DOL’s overly aggressive and bad faith tactics in investigating whether Gate Guard’s gate attendants were improperly classified as independent contractors under
Many Home Companionship Workers No Longer Exempt
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 wage and overtime under the FLSA are now in effect.
Since 1974, the FLSA has included an exemption for certain categories of domestic service workers, including
Proposed Rule Gets 264,000 Comments
Last week, we reminded you that the public comment period on the DOL’s proposed changes to the FLSA white collar exemptions was going to end on Friday, September 4, 2015, and the DOL was not going to extend this comment period despite requests to do so. True to its word, the public comment period came
DOL Will Not Extend Comment Period on Proposed Regulations
In July, we wrote about the Department of Labor’s proposed changes to the regulations governing the white collar exemptions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The current regulations governing these exemptions—executive, administrative, and professional—include a salary basis test by which to determine if an employee meets one of these exemptions. The salary basis test currently
Webinar Follow-Up: New DOL Overtime Exemption Rules and Independent Contractor Guidance
Thanks to all of our clients and friends for such a great turnout at today’s webinar on the new DOL overtime exemption rules and the Administrator’s Interpretation on independent contractors. In case you missed the webinar, or if you just want to go back and review the materials and recording, you can find both
DOL Outlines New “Economic Dependence” Test for Independent Contractors
The DOL continues to deliver on the promise of its busy summer. This morning, Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division (WHD) Administrator Dr. David Weil announced a new, 15-page Administrator’s Interpretation in a DOL blog post that stressed the FLSA’s expansive definition of employment and reinforced the WHD’s position that most workers qualify as