Since 2015, we have been following the saga of the salary threshold for the FLSA’s white-collar exemptions (most of them, at least). In June 2015, the Department of Labor proposed a level of $50,440. When the final rule was published in May 2016, that level turned out to be $47,476. In the
Fifth Circuit Says Plaintiffs May Not Send Notice of FLSA Suit to Employees with Arbitration Agreements
By: John Phillips and Steve Shardonofsky
Seyfarth Synopsis: In a must-read decision and case of first impression at the federal appellate level, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held late last week that a district court may not approve sending notice of an FLSA collective action to employees who had agreed to arbitrate employment
DOL Issues Opinion Letter Providing Guidance On The Legality Of Certain Non-Traditional Pay
Seyfarth Synopsis: The DOL issued an opinion letter approving a pay model where an employer in the home health field paid its employees at an hourly rate for time spent with patients without additional hourly pay for time spent by the employees traveling to and from patient homes. In that same
The 10th Circuit Massaged the Idea of Whether Student-Trainees Were Employees Under the FLSA
By: Ariel Fenster
Seyfarth Synopsis: Courts across the country have frequently weighed in on the unpaid interns/ trainees versus paid employee debate. Now, the 10th Circuit has jumped into the fray with a decision affirming that a massage therapy student was not an employee under the FLSA and thus need not be paid.
The issue
WHD Announces Regulatory Agenda
The Department of Labor issued its Fall 2018 regulatory agenda, and the Wage & Hour Division is front and center. New to the agenda is a proposed rule on joint employment under the FLSA. Acknowledging that its regulations have not been updated in 60 years and no longer reflect the realities
As Second Circuit Buys into “Fair Interpretation” of the FLSA, “Narrow Construction” Stalls Out
By: Howard M. Wexler and Vlada Feldman
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Second Circuit’s recent rulings in Munoz-Gonzalez v. D.L.C. Limousine Service, Inc. and Flood v. Just Energy Marketing Corp. further demonstrate the impact of the Supreme Court’s holding in Navarro, et al. v. Encino Motorcars, LLC as it pertains to FLSA exemptions by rejecting the
The Eleventh Circuit Affirmed It Was Not A “Crime” To Not Compensate For Dressing and Drive Time
By: Ariel D. Fenster and Brett C. Bartlett
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Eleventh Circuit recently affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment to two Florida counties in an action brought against former sheriff deputies under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and Florida Minimum Wage Act (FMWA). The court held that the deputies were not entitled to compensation for the time that they spent donning and doffing police gear at home or the time that they spent driving to and from work in marked patrol vehicles.
Should we be paying our employees before their shifts start? The answer is highly fact dependent. In recent weeks, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the Middle District of Florida’s decision that the time deputies spent putting on their police gear at home and driving to and from work in their patrol cars was not compensable. In Llorca v. Sheriff Collier County, Florida, the Eleventh Circuit analyzed what type of pre-shift activities may qualify for hourly compensation. The decision provided a deep analysis of the Portal-to-Portal Act of 1947, as amended by the Employee Commuting Flexibility Act of 1996. In relevant part, the act states that an employer does not have to pay its employees for activities that are “preliminary or postliminary” to the “principal activity” of the job. The U.S. Supreme Court has long interpreted the term “principal activity or activities” to include all activities that are an “integral and indispensable part of the principal activities.”
Fixed Salaries, Fluctuating Hours, and Beyond: A Federal Court Addresses Common Questions About the Fluctuating Work Week Method of Compensation
By: Kyle Petersen and Ariel Fenster
Seyfarth Synopsis: A recent decision by the Southern District of New York clarifies common questions arising from the use of the fixed salary for a fluctuating workweek method of compensation (the “FWW”): (1) Do isolated pay deductions undermine the fixed salary requirement; (2) Must the employee’s hours fluctuate above