FLSA

How to maintain independent contractor status: Don’t exert too much control

06/17/2014

You may be tempted to reclassify certain workers as independent contractors to avoid taxes, benefits and other liabilities. But federal and state agencies are getting tougher on weeding out misclassifications.

Should we be paying for the trip from our home office to the work site?

06/16/2014

Q. One of our work crews needs to drive to a single work site during the day. One employee drives a truck and trailer with tools and equipment from our main facility. We would like to allow other employees to save gas by riding in the company’s truck. Do we need to pay employees for this commute time?

DOL releases regulatory agenda for remainder of 2014, early 2015

06/11/2014

Twice every year, federal agencies offer an unheralded but revealing peek at their upcoming priorities. The Department of Labor’s most recent semiannual regulatory agenda, released in late May, provides enforcement clues employers should heed.

For wage litigation, no disguising common ownership

06/09/2014

Setting up several different corporations to run related enterprises won’t insulate the businesses from liability for wage-and-hour claims if the interrelationship is close.

TGI Fridays served with class action in N.Y. court

06/09/2014

Hospitality giant Carlson Restaurants faces a class-action suit alleging numerous Fair Labor Standards Act violations at the TGI Fridays casual dining chain.

Unwritten rules: Are your supervisors quietly encouraging off-the-clock work?

06/05/2014

Many employers think that simply writing a policy prohibiting off-the-clock work and unapproved overtime will protect them from overtime claims by hourly employees who work beyond their shifts. But courts won’t be swayed by an employer’s “we told them not to work” assertion.

Federal wage-and-hour lawsuits hit record high in 2013-2014

06/05/2014

An all-time high 8,126 Fair Labor Standards Act cases were filed between April 1, 2013, and March 31, 2014—a 5% increase over last year, and a 426% increase over 20 years.

Labor Department to change FLSA’s overtime exemptions?

06/03/2014

According to Littler Mendelson employment lawyer Ilyse Schuman, word on the street in Washington is that the Labor Department will release a plan to overhaul the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime exemptions sometime “before November.”

San Antonio fast food franchisee hit with OT suit

05/28/2014

A San Antonio area franchisee faces charges he failed to pay proper overtime to his employees. Wessam “Sammie” Aldeeb operate eight restaurants, including Subway, Great American Cookies and Marble Slab Creamery stores. A recently filed suit seeks class-action status for at least 125 current or former employees of Aldeeb’s franchises.

DOL provides new guidance on ACA-mandated lactation breaks

05/22/2014

The ACA health care reform law amended the Fair Labor Standards Act to require employers to provide a place for nursing mothers to express breast milk. The law includes specific requirements the space must meet to comply.