Wage & Hour

  • November 01, 2024

    Nonprofit Urges Miss. Judge To Uphold H-2A Worker Rule

    A nonprofit supporting migrant workers' rights filed an amicus brief Friday urging a Mississippi federal court to deny the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's bid to stay a regulation allowing H-2A migrant farmworkers to organize, saying the rule falls well within the authority of the U.S. Department of Labor.

  • November 01, 2024

    What To Listen For In Oral Args On FLSA Evidence Standards

    The U.S. Supreme Court will hold oral arguments Tuesday in a case about evidence standards for the Fair Labor Standards Act's overtime exemptions, and attorneys told Law360 they are curious to see whether the justices' line of questioning addresses the statute's text and the court's own precedent.

  • November 01, 2024

    Construction Groups Want Win In DBA Rule Challenge

    Two construction groups told a Texas federal court Friday that the U.S. Department of Labor's final rule updating the Davis-Bacon Act unlawfully reinstates a defunct standard and expands the statute coverage, seeking a win in their suit challenging the rule.

  • November 01, 2024

    Up Next At High Court: Fed Funds And Securities Risks

    The U.S. Supreme Court will return to the bench Monday for its November arguments session, which will start off with a debate over whether the Federal Communications Commission telecom subsidy program involves federal funds subject to the False Claims Act, and on Tuesday how Medicare funding should be calculated for hospitals that serve large numbers of low-income patients.

  • November 01, 2024

    Calif. Forecast: 9th Circ. To Hear Args In Hotel-Union Dispute

    In the coming week, attorneys should watch for Ninth Circuit oral arguments in a case involving UNITE HERE, the San Diego County Building and Construction Trades Council, and hotel development companies. Here's a look at that case and other labor and employment matters on deck in California.

  • November 01, 2024

    SC Hospital Settles Ex-Worker's Wage, Retaliation Suit

    A South Carolina hospital reached a $15,000 deal with a former employee alleging she was forced to work through unpaid meal breaks and then fired shortly after filing a lawsuit, according to a joint settlement motion filed in federal court.

  • November 01, 2024

    Coal Mining Co. Accused Of Stiffing Workers On OT

    A coal mining company failed to compensate miners for donning and doffing their protective gear while also leaving out bonuses and shift differentials from overtime pay, a former employee said in a proposed collective action in West Virginia federal court.

  • November 01, 2024

    NY Forecast: 2nd Circ. Hears COVID Whistleblower Suit

    This week, the Second Circuit will consider a former bank worker's attempt to revive her claim that she was transferred to a less prestigious position after she complained that the company's CEO attended a holiday party despite having COVID-19. Here, Law360 looks at this and another case on the docket in New York.

  • November 01, 2024

    Denver Gas Co. Settles Misclassifcation, Overtime Suit

    A Denver-based oil and gas producer reached a confidential settlement with the geologist who claimed in a proposed collective action that the company owed workers overtime after misclassifying them as independent contractors.

  • November 01, 2024

    Charter Wants Class Dismantled In Vacation Payout Suit

    Charter Communications urged a California federal court to deconstruct a 5,700-member class of workers who accused the company of failing to pay out unused vacation time when it merged with Time Warner Cable, saying too many individual issues exist to warrant a classwide trial.

  • October 31, 2024

    3rd Circ. Preview: Boy Scouts' Ch. 11 Plan Row Tops Nov.

    The future of the Boy Scouts of America's Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan is set to be determined by the Third Circuit this month, with the court poised to consider whether recent U.S. Supreme Court precedent on bankruptcies and settlements allows the reopening of the plan.

  • October 31, 2024

    Seyfarth Argues Against DQ From Amazon COVID Pay Case

    Seyfarth Shaw urged a Colorado federal judge on Wednesday to reject a bid to disqualify the law firm from representing Amazon in a putative class action after representing former managers who are allegedly presumed class members, arguing there was no real harm since its attorneys quickly dropped the former employees after discovering potential conflicts.

  • October 31, 2024

    Masimo Sues Ex-CEO Over 'Unprecedented' $450M Demand

    Masimo Corp. has sued its founder in Delaware Chancery Court, seeking a declaration that a $450 million payout triggered in part by the founder's loss of control or his ouster as CEO and chairman is unenforceable, saying the amount is "unprecedented" and shouldn't be paid by shareholders who were simply exercising their voting rights.

  • October 31, 2024

    DOL Blocked From Using In-House Court In Hiring Bias Spat

    A Texas federal judge temporarily blocked the U.S. Department of Labor from using its internal judge system to pursue administrative proceedings against a government contractor for allegedly discriminatory hiring practices, citing a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that placed limitations on these in-house procedures.

  • October 31, 2024

    CBS Escapes Ex-Employee's Vaccine Bias Suit

    CBSViacom/Paramount beat a former employee's lawsuit claiming she was fired because she requested a medical exemption to the company's COVID-19 vaccination policy, with a New York federal judge ruling she failed to fix errors previously identified by the court.

  • October 31, 2024

    State AGs Continue Wage Actions Year After Uber, Lyft Deals

    State attorneys general have proceeded with worker classification actions in the year after New York's top prosecutor reached separate settlements with Uber and Lyft totaling $328 million, though none of those actions have resulted in the reclassification of ride-hailing drivers as employees instead of independent contractors.

  • October 31, 2024

    Ex-Salesman Says CommScope's Bonus System Cut His Pay

    Broadband company CommScope Technologies is facing a proposed class action alleging that its system for tracking commissions is flawed to the point that it does not accurately reflect the full incentive bonuses its employees have actually earned and that the company has knowingly let the problem persist.

  • October 31, 2024

    NY Restaurant Reaches $725K Deal To End Wage Suit

    A New York City restaurant and bar agreed Thursday to pay $725,000 to resolve a proposed class action accusing it of shorting service workers on wages and misapplying a tip credit to their overtime compensation, a filing in New York federal court said.

  • October 31, 2024

    Jones Day Pushes To Shield Memo In Parental Leave Case

    As two former Jones Day associates who are challenging the firm's family leave policy prepare to potentially go to trial in late 2025, Jones Day has told a D.C. federal court that a memorandum stating business reasons for a personnel decision shouldn't lose its status as privileged communication just because it references legal issues.

  • October 31, 2024

    Home Health Co., DOL Ink $810K Deal To End Wage Suit

    A Pennsylvania home healthcare company will pay more than $810,000 to end a U.S. Department of Labor suit alleging it stiffed workers on their minimum and overtime wages, according to a Thursday court filing.

  • October 31, 2024

    Hard Rock Cafe Cheated Workers Out Of Pay, Suit Says

    The Hard Rock Cafe didn't pay servers for all hours they worked, automatically deducting time for meal breaks they didn't take and improperly managing their tips, two former employees told a New York federal court.

  • October 31, 2024

    The 2024 Law360 Pulse Leaderboard

    Check out the Law360 Pulse Leaderboard to see which firms made the list of leaders in all-around excellence this year.

  • October 31, 2024

    Firms' Hiring Strategies Are Evolving In Fight For Top Spot

    Competition for top talent among elite law firms shows no signs of slowing down, even amid economic uncertainty, with financially strong firms deploying aggressive strategies to attract and retain skilled professionals to solidify their market position.

  • October 31, 2024

    Allstate Agents Want Class Status In Misclassification Suit

    Former Allstate agents asked a California federal court to grant them class status in their suit accusing the insurance company of misclassifying them as independent contractors so it could shift expenses onto them, saying they were all subject to the same policies and contracts.

  • October 31, 2024

    Lumber Co. Agrees To $100K Deal In Time-Shaving Suit

    A lumber and building materials supplier asked a Wisconsin federal judge to sign off on a $100,000 deal ending a proposed class and collective action alleging it shaved hours off its workers' time sheets to avoid paying them overtime wages.

Expert Analysis

  • 3rd Circ. Ruling Offers Tools To Manage Exempt Employees

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    The Third Circuit’s recent opinion in Higgins v. Bayada Home Health, finding the Fair Labor Standards Act allows employers to deduct paid time off for missed employee productivity targets, gives companies another resource for managing exempt employee inefficiency or absenteeism, says Laura Lawless at Squire Patton.

  • Illinois Paid Leave Law May Create Obstacles For Employers

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    Illinois' Paid Leave for All Workers Act, which goes into effect next year, could create issues and potential liability for employers due to its ambiguity, so companies should review and modify existing workplace policies to prevent challenges, including understaffing, says Matt Tyrrell at Schoenberg Finkel.

  • What Employers Must Know About FLSA 'Salary Basis' Rule

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    To satisfy the salary basis requirement for administrative, executive and professional employee exemptions under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, employers must take care not to jeopardize employees' exempt status through improper deductions, says Adriana Kosovych at Epstein Becker.

  • Water Cooler Talk: Quiet Quitting Insights From 'Seinfeld'

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    Tracey Diamond and Evan Gibbs at Troutman Pepper chat with Paradies Lagardere's Rebecca Silk about George Costanza's "quiet quitting" tendencies in "Seinfeld" and how such employees raise thorny productivity-monitoring issues for employers.

  • How FLSA Actions Are Playing Out Amid Split On Opt-In Issue

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    Courts are currently split on whether opt-in plaintiffs in collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act who join a lawsuit filed by another employee must establish personal jurisdiction, but the resolution could come sooner than one might expect, say Matt Abee and Debbie Durban at Nelson Mullins.

  • Pros And Cons As Calif. Employers Rethink Forced Arbitration

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    As California employers reconsider mandatory arbitration pacts following favorable high-profile federal and state court rulings, they should contemplate the benefits and burdens of such agreements, and fine-tune contract language to ensure continued enforcement, say Niki Lubrano and Brian Cole at CDF Labor Law.

  • What Calif. Employers Need To Know About Wage Theft

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    With the attention of the media, as well as California's state and local governments, now focused on wage theft, more Golden State employers face a dual threat of enforcement and negative publicity, so companies should take specific steps to make sure they don't find their name in the next story, say attorneys at Buchanan Ingersoll.

  • Eye On Compliance: Cross-State Noncompete Agreements

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    The Federal Trade Commission's recent proposal to limit the application of worker noncompete agreements is a timely reminder for prudent employers to reexamine their current policies and practices around such covenants — especially businesses with operational footprints spanning more than one state, says Jeremy Stephenson at Wilson Elser.

  • A DOL Reminder That ADA Doesn't Limit FMLA Protections

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    A recent U.S. Department of Labor opinion letter and some case law make clear that the Family and Medical Leave Act fills in gaps where the Americans with Disabilities Act may not neatly apply, however the agency ignored a number of courts that have supported termination when "no overtime" restrictions effectively reduce a position to part-time, says Jeff Nowak at Littler Mendelson.

  • Pending NCAA Ruling Could Spell Change For Unpaid Interns

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    The Third Circuit's upcoming Johnson v. NCAA decision, over whether student-athletes can be considered university employees, could reverberate beyond college sports and force employers with unpaid student interns to add these workers to their payrolls, say Babak Yousefzadeh and Skyler Hicks at Sheppard Mullin.

  • How Managers Can Curb Invisible Off-The-Clock Work Claims

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    There has been a rash of recent federal lawsuits in which nonexempt employees have alleged their employers failed to pay them for off-the-clock work done without their managers' knowledge, but employers taking proactive measures to limit such work may substantially lower litigation risks, says Robert Turk at Stearns Weaver.

  • 5 Potential Perils Of Implementing Employee Sabbaticals

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    As companies try to retain employees with sabbatical benefits amid record-low unemployment rates, employers should be aware of several potential legal risks when considering policies to allow these leave periods, say Jesse Dill and Corissa Pennow at Ogletree.

  • NY Hospitality Employers Face Lofty Compliance Burden

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    As New York hospitality businesses have reopened over the last year, there are more employment compliance considerations now than ever before, including regulations and laws related to wage rates, tip credits, just cause and uniform maintenance pay, say attorneys at Reed Smith.