Authored by Seyfarth’s Wage & Hour Litigation Practice Group
Late Tuesday afternoon, Judge Amos Mazzant of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued an order enjoining the U.S. Department of Labor’s implementation and enforcement of the new overtime exemption rules that were set to go into effect on December 1, 2016. The court granted a
Continue Reading Texas Judge Preliminarily Enjoins New Overtime Exemption Rules Nationwide: What Steps Should Follow?
Authored by Alex Passantino
As the nation waited for the final states to be called in the early morning hours on Wednesday, we here at the Wage & Hour Litigation Blog focused on our one thing: what impact would the result have on the DOL’s overtime exemption regulations scheduled to go into effect on December 1, 2016? How does the
Continue Reading Electoral Impact: How Does Tuesday’s Result Affect the Overtime Exemption Regulations?
Authored by Robert S. Whitman and Howard M. Wexler
As we all know, the revisions to the FLSA’s “white collar” exemptions will take effect December 1 and will increase the salary level required for the executive, administrative, and professional exemptions to $913 per week (or $47,476 per year). Avid wage and hour practitioners in New York have been waiting to
Continue Reading NY DOL To Increase Salary Threshold for Exempt Employees
Authored by Alex Passantino
Seyfarth Synopsis: Two lawsuits related to the Department of Labor’s revisions to the white-collar exemptions have been filed in East Texas.
The first lawsuit, citing (among other things) the severe impact the impending salary increase will have on state and local government budgets, was filed by the Attorneys General of Nevada, Texas, and 19 other
Continue Reading Employers Should Not Retreat on Compliance Planning Despite Two-Pronged Attack on OT Rule
Authored by Rob Whitman
Seyfarth Synopsis: Unpaid interns for Hearst magazines have been rebuffed again in their effort to be declared eligible to receive wages under the FLSA and the New York Labor Law.
In an August 24, 2016 ruling, Judge J. Paul Oetken of the Southern District of New York held that six interns, who worked for Marie
Continue Reading In Final Exam, Court Rejects Hearst Interns’ Pay Claims
Authored by Abigail Cahak
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Supreme Court dealt a blow to the Department of Labor’s rulemaking procedures, criticizing the agency for explicitly changing its long-standing treatment of automobile service advisors as overtime exempt while saying “almost nothing” regarding the reasons for the abrupt change.
This week, the Supreme Court dealt a blow to the Department of Labor’s rulemaking
Continue Reading SCOTUS Says DOL Needs to Explain Itself If It Wants Deference to its Regulations
Co-authored by Richard Alfred, Brett Bartlett, and Noah Finkel
The Department of Labor’s release of the new exemption regulations appears imminent. As we have reported in a number of posts, these new rules are expected to nearly double the minimum annual salary level required for employees under the administrative, executive, and professional exemptions (currently $23,660 to between
Continue Reading Plaintiffs’ Bar Sets Sights on New Lawsuits Following DOL Rule Amendments
Authored by Hillary J. Massey
Employers have a new tool for opposing conditional and class certification of overtime claims by financial advisors and other exempt employees—last week, a judge in the District of New Jersey denied conditional and class certification of such claims because the plaintiffs failed to show that common issues predominated. The court, pointing to other decisions denying
Continue Reading Advising On Their Own: Financial Advisors’ Class Claims Defeated
Co-authored by Rob Whitman, Adam Smiley, and Nadia Bandukda
A federal judge has sided with Gawker in the media company’s legal battle with a former unpaid intern who claimed that he should have been compensated as an employee. On March 29th, Judge Alison Nathan in the Southern District of New York granted Gawker’s motion for summary judgment and
Continue Reading Gawker Victory Against Unpaid Interns Provides Helpful Roadmap
Co-authored by Noah A. Finkel and Abad Lopez
The demise of bank loan underwriters’ exempt status has been greatly exaggerated—at least according to a recent Sixth Circuit decision upholding the dismissal of a putative collective action against Huntington Bank. The court disagreed with underwriters who alleged that they were improperly classified as exempt and thereby wrongfully denied overtime pay. Instead,
Continue Reading Classifying a Loan Underwriter as Exempt Is a Risk Worth Taking, Says Sixth Circuit