Seyfarth Synopsis: In the December 16, 2019, Federal Register, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage & Hour Division (WHD) published its final rule clarifying and updating the regulations governing the regular rate requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
Generally, the FLSA requires overtime to be paid at a rate that is at least
By Robert S. Whitman, Howard M. Wexler, and Thomas F. Howley
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Second Circuit held that FLSA settlements pursuant to Rule 68 Offers of Judgment do not require judicial approval. The Court distinguished such settlements from Rule 41 stipulated dismissals, which still require approval under Cheeks v. Freeport Pancake House.
By: John Yslas and Carolina Nunez
Seyfarth Synopsis: In acquiring a company, there is often a tendency to think an asset purchase (as opposed to a stock purchase) guarantees the purchaser will not inherit any liability (so-called “successor liability”). This is not necessarily so with wage and hour liability, particularly if the purchaser merely continues
Seyfarth Synopsis: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage & Hour Division issued a proposed rule on the fluctuating workweek method of pay. The proposal continues a regulatory saga started in 2008, and clarifies that payments in addition to the fixed salary are compatible with the fluctuating workweek method of compensation, and
By: Alex Passantino
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Department of Labor’s Wage & Hour Division announced its long-awaited proposed rule related to the FLSA’s tip provisions. The rule would implement statutory changes passed in March 2018; it also would elevate certain WHD policy guidance into regulation.
The legislative changes come from the Tip Income Protection Act, which
Seyfarth Synopsis: the 10th Circuit has held that the FLSA applies to workers in the marijuana industry.
Looks like at least some arguments seeking to dismiss FLSA wage claims under the guise that “cannabis is illegal under federal law” have gone up in smoke. The 10th Circuit created a
By: Vanessa Rogers, John Phillips, and Steve Shardonofsky
Seyfarth Synopsis: Employers were handed a big win recently when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that a day rate can satisfy the salary basis requirement for overtime exemptions under FLSA and also advocated for an award of costs to the
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
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
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