• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

FLSA

LinkedIn’s $6 million payout offers lessons on tracking time

09/02/2014
The company apparently has failed to connect with the Department of Labor’s rules on what constitutes an exempt employee under the FLSA.

Calculating OT: What counts as a ‘workweek’?

09/01/2014
Employment lawsuits often hinge on a definition: What is an “employee”? What is “work”? And, in this case, what is a “workweek”?

California Supreme Court makes independent contractor status tougher for motor carriers

08/29/2014
If your company is classified as a motor carrier, don’t expect the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994 (FAAAA) to protect you from misclassification claims. That’s the lesson learned by one motor carrier after a recent Cali­­for­­nia Supreme Court decision.

Must we pay employees for unauthorized overtime when they check their messages?

08/18/2014
Q. We frequently have employees turn in time sheets with unapproved overtime—time they spend checking emails and voice mails. Do we have to pay em­­­­ployees for this time even though we have a workplace policy that prohibits unapproved overtime work?

LinkedIn to pay nearly $6M for unpaid overtime violations

08/15/2014
The business-oriented social media site LinkedIn has agreed to pay $3,346,195 in overtime back wages and $2,509,646 in damages to 359 former and current employees.

Court rules volunteer not entitled to FLSA protection

08/14/2014
A young man who volunteered at a school in hopes of building his résumé is not an employee as defined in the Fair Labor Standards Act according to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals.

Four Dallas restaurants settle DOL wage disputes

07/31/2014
Workers at four Dallas-area restaurants will receive more than $188,000 following a U.S. Depart­­ment of Labor Wage and Hour Divi­­sion (WHD) investigation. The restaurants—Yes Buffet in Grand Prairie, Royal Buf­­fet in Rowlett and Crown Buffet and Win Chi­­nese Buffet in Dallas—underpaid 61 employees.

Workweek isn’t based on consecutive days

07/31/2014

Under the FLSA, employees are entitled to overtime for hours worked over 40 in any workweek. However, the law doesn’t specify how a workweek is determined…

DOL seeks $2 million–and ban from H-2B Visa program

07/23/2014
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) hopes to harvest some green from Watsonville, Ca.-based Fernandez Farms. According to the DOL, the farm failed to pay the minimum wage to workers brought into the country under the H-2B visa program.

For class-action lawsuits, independent contractor wording is what matters

07/23/2014

Do you use independent contractor agreements that spell out details about how those independent contractors will get the work done? If so, you may soon face a class-action lawsuit from some of those contractors. That’s because the California Supreme Court has now made it easier to file class actions based on little more than what is in those contracts.