Authored by Catherine Dacre
Commissioned sales is one of the few areas in which California law is arguably more favorable to employers than the FLSA or laws of other states. Specifically, California law recognizes an exemption from overtime for sales employees in many industries, provided they are primarily engaged in sales, earn at least one and one half times the
Authored by Alex Passantino
For the past two years or so, perhaps the most anticipated rulemaking in the wage and hour world has been what has been described at various times as the “FLSA Recordkeeping” or “Right-to-Know” rulemaking. As we have discussed previously on the blog, this expected regulation immediately drew the concern of the employer community when it was reported that
Continue Reading DOL’s “Right-to-Know” Rulemaking Gets Tabled
Co-Authored by Tripper Ortman and Robb McFadden
Insurance agents and other types of salespeople with the discretion to determine when, how, and whether to sell a company’s products may properly be classified as independent contractors, according to the California Court of Appeal’s recent holding in Arnold v. Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company — the first California decision to detail the
Authored by Laura Reathaford
A California federal district court judge has refused to certify a putative class of Verizon FiOS technicians who claimed they were misclassified as exempt from California’s overtime requirements.
Plaintiffs sought certification under Rule 23(b)(3) on the basis that Verizon had a common policy of misclassifying its First Level Managers (“FLMs”). However, the Court rejected this
Co-authored by Brandon McKelvey and Fred Sanderson
Citing the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Dukes v. Wal-Mart, on December 30, 2011, the Ninth Circuit vacated its prior decision reversing a district court’s denial of class certification under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(2). The Ninth Circuit’s unpublished memorandum in Sepulveda v. Wal-Mart Store, Inc., indicates that the Supreme
Continue Reading Ninth Circuit Changes Course On Class Certification Ruling In Light Of Dukes
Authored by Kimberly Brener.
On December 29, 2011, four years after granting review, the California Supreme Court decided Harris v. Superior Court, holding that the Court of Appeal mistakenly concluded that claims adjusters, as a matter of law, do not qualify for the administrative exemption. Employment lawyers had hoped that the Supreme Court would use this occasion to
Authored by Noah Finkel
Since the Supreme Court’s decision earlier this year in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, nearly all federal courts that have been faced with the issue, have enforced collective action waivers of federal wage-hour claims in arbitration agreements, assuming that the agreement was not unconscionable under state law. But a troubling recent decision by a federal
Continue Reading Raniere Bucks Concepcion in Collective Action Context
Authored by Jessica Schauer
On November 28, 2011, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit issued a decision in Hines v State Room, Inc. finding that sales managers for a Boston banquet facility were exempt from overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act’s administrative exemption. The case is certain to become a key precedent for employers in two
Co-authored by Richard Alfred and Jessica Schauer
At 10 a.m. EST today, the U.S. Supreme Court announced its decision to grant certiorari in Christopher v. SmithKline Beecham Corp. The Court will review a decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, reported at 635 F.3d 38 (see Seyfarth Shaw’s Wage & Hour Litigation Blog), that
Authored by Andrew McNaught
On November 10, 2011 the California Court of Appeal, First District, heard oral argument in Duran, et al. v. U.S. Bank. While perhaps overshadowed by the excitement surrounding the oral argument before the California Supreme Court in Brinker Rest. Corp. v. Superior Court, just two days prior, the Duran case presents extremely important issues relating