Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Subscribe to Seyfarth Shaw LLP's Posts

By: Andrew McKinley

Seyfarth Synopsis: Businesses with arbitration programs often oppose the issuance of notice in FLSA collective actions on the ground that many potential recipients have binding arbitration agreements precluding them from participating in a case. The majority of federal appellate courts have not yet addressed whether arbitration must be addressed before or after notice issues. The Sixth…

Continue Reading Sixth Circuit Joins the Chorus of Appellate Decisions Requiring Arbitration to Be Assessed Before FLSA Notice Issues

By: Kevin Young and Noah Finkel

Seyfarth Synopsis. Businesses familiar with FLSA litigation are aware of the frustrating ease with which some courts have turned single-plaintiff cases into large-scale collective action proceedings. But the tides are shifting, as the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has joined the Fifth Circuit in rejecting the “lenient standard” for collective action certification and demanding…

Continue Reading A “Strong Likelihood” of Change: Sixth Circuit Joins the Fifth in Raising the FLSA Certification Bar

By Ryan McCoy, Alex Simon, and Cary Burke

Seyfarth Synopsis: Recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that a crane mechanic who performed some work on a truck chassis came within the purview of the Motor Carrier Act exemption to the Fair Labor Standards Act, irrespective of the percentage of time he spent performing…

Continue Reading An Uplifting Motor Carrier Act Exemption Victory At The Fifth Circuit

By: Paul J. Leaf and Kyle Winnick

Seyfarth Synopsis: In Rocha v. U-Haul Co. of Cal., the California Court of Appeal held that a plaintiff asserting a PAGA claim does not have standing to pursue a PAGA claim on behalf of others, if an arbitrator denies the plaintiff’s individual claims on the merits and finds no underlying Labor Code…

Continue Reading Adverse Adjudication on the Merits Deprives Plaintiffs of PAGA Standing

By Alison Silveira and Kerry Friedrichs

Seyfarth Synopsis: Last week, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that employers can deduct from an employee’s PTO bank for failure to meet clearly defined productivity minimums without violating the salary basis test and jeopardizing the employee’s exempt status.  Higgins v. Bayada Home Health Care Inc. provides…

Continue Reading On the Heels of Helix: Third Circuit Confirms PTO Is Not Part of an Employee’s Salary for the Purpose of Evaluating the Salary Basis Test

By: Kyla Miller and Michael Afar

Last week, the financial world was upset by the seizure and shut down by regulators of two regional banks — Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. With almost no warning, employers went from a position of high liquidity to one where their deposits were frozen. As depositors of those banks feared for the money…

Continue Reading Financial Uncertainties, Cyberattacks, Payroll Emergencies, Oh My! What Employers Need to Know in Crisis About Wage & Hour Obligations (Part 1)

By: John P. Phillips

Seyfarth Synopsis: Since the Supreme Court’s decision in Southwest Airlines Co. v. Saxon, many employers have seen an uptick in plaintiffs seeking to avoid arbitration by arguing that they are transportation workers and thus not subject to the Federal Arbitration Act. But as the subsequent history in the Saxon decision makes clear, employers can—and…

Continue Reading State Law Can Serve as a Backstop to the Federal Arbitration Act

By: Christina Jaremus

Seyfarth Synopsis:  Illinois joined the exclusive club of now three states that require employers to offer paid leave for any reason when Governor J.B. Pritzker signed the Paid Leave for Workers Act last week.  The Act takes effect on January 1, 2024.  Illinois employees will be entitled to earn and use at least 40 hours of paid…

Continue Reading Paid Leave For Any Reason Now A Reality In Illinois

By: Andrew McKinley, Kyle Winnick & Alex Simon

Seyfarth Synopsis: This first part of a multi-part series explores the implications of the Department of Labor’s proposed independent contractor rule under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Specifically, it focuses on proposed changes to the control factor concerning legal, safety, contractual, and other similar requirements.

As we detailed here, on…

Continue Reading DOL’s Proposed FLSA Independent Contractor Rule: Control—Part I

By: Annette Idalski, Kyle Winnick, A. Scott Hecker, and Ethan Goemann

Seyfarth Synopsis: The Supreme Court held that highly-compensated employees paid solely on a day rate must meet the so-called “reasonable relationship test” to satisfy the salary basis requirement.

In Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. v. Hewitt, the Supreme Court considered whether a day-rate employee earning…

Continue Reading Supreme Court Holds That Highly-Compensated Employees Solely Paid a Day Rate Must Meet Reasonable Relationship Test