By Barry J. Miller and Hillary J. Massey
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Second Circuit has affirmed summary judgment for the employer, Aetna, in an exempt misclassification overtime claim brought by a nurse reviewer. Agreeing that the plaintiff was properly classified as a “professional” employee and thus exempt from the FLSA, the Second Circuit explained that clinicians who do not directly provide
Continue Reading 2nd Cir. Rules Utilization Reviewer Was Exempt “Professional”
By Kevin M. Young and Renate M. Walker
Seyfarth Synopsis: Each year, droves of employers are hauled into court to defend lawsuits in which salaried-exempt employees claim that, because of their job duties, they should have been classified as non-exempt and paid overtime. While a written job description alone cannot defeat such a claim, it will nearly always be
Continue Reading Looking Ahead to Exhibit A: Tips For Drafting Job Descriptions for Exempt Roles
Authored by Robert Whitman
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Department of Labor has scrapped its 2010 Fact Sheet on internship status and adopted the more flexible and employer-friendly test devised by Second Circuit.
In a decision that surprised no one who has followed the litigation of wage hour claims by interns, the US Department of Labor has abandoned its ill-fated six-part test
Continue Reading DOL Bids Adieu to Six-Factor Internship Test
Authored by Robert Whitman
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Second Circuit has upheld summary judgment against magazine interns seeking payment as “employees” under the FLSA.
In an end-of-semester decision that may represent the final grade for unpaid interns seeking minimum wage and overtime pay under the FLSA, the Second Circuit has firmly rejected claims by Hearst magazine interns challenging their unpaid status.
Continue Reading Interns Flunk the Class
Co-authored by Cheryl Luce, Kyla Miller, and Noah Finkel
Seyfarth Synopsis: A recent decision highlights why the FLSA is not always the remedial statute created to protect low-income workers by holding that four commission-based sales representatives, each earning six figures, were not exempt from the overtime requirements because they were not paid on a salary basis.
Co-authored by John Giovannone, Noah Finkel, and Kyle Petersen
Seyfarth Synopsis: As previously discussed in this space, the Ninth Circuit recently chose to side with the Second Circuit, and not the Sixth Circuit, and ruled that mortgage underwriters fail to meet the FLSA’s administrative exemption from overtime test. In doing so, the Court artificially promoted and expanded a
Continue Reading A Glimmer Of Hope: The Supreme Court Now Has A Chance To Resolve A Circuit Split And Pronounce That Mortgage Underwriters Qualify For The Administrative Exemption
Co-authored by Brett Bartlett, Alex Passantino, and Kevin Young
Seyfarth Synopsis: On Thursday afternoon, a federal judge in Texas issued an order officially invalidating the U.S. Department of Labor’s 2016 overtime rule, which would have more than doubled the minimum salary level for most overtime-exempt employees. While the long awaited ruling brings a measure of closure for employers,
Continue Reading Obama Overtime Rule Invalidated by Federal Court in Texas
Co-authored by Kyle Petersen, John Giovannone, and Noah Finkel
Seyfarth Synopsis: By resurrecting reliance on the administrative/production dichotomy in FLSA administrative exemption cases, the Ninth Circuit is at odds with the California Supreme Court’s application of the state’s administrative exemption. California employers thus find themselves in a strange new world where the state construct is easier to understand
Continue Reading It’s a Strange New World in California for the Administrative Exemption
Co-authored by Noah Finkel, Colton Long, Kyle Petersen, and John Giovannone
Seyfarth Synopsis: FLSA cases holding against employers typically invoke a canon of construction that the FLSA should be construed broadly, and any of its exemptions narrowly. But a study of the roots of this language shows that the canon has a dubious foundation and that it
Continue Reading Can We Finally Retire the Notions of Construing The FLSA’s Overtime Provisions Broadly But Its Exemptions Narrowly?