Authored by Cheryl Luce
Employers often grapple with what to do when their policies prohibit off-duty work, like working on mobile devices after hours, that employees don’t follow. Even if it has a policy prohibiting off-duty work, if the employer knows (or should know) an employees is working, the employer must compensate the employee for the off-duty work. The same
Continue Reading Seventh Circuit Sends Police Officers’ Off-Duty BlackBerry Claims to Spam Folder
Co-authored by John Giovannone, Kyle Petersen, and Noah Finkel
Seyfarth Synopsis: Earlier this month, the Ninth Circuit chose to side with the Second Circuit, and not the Sixth Circuit, to opine that mortgage underwriters fail to meet the FLSA’s administrative exemption from overtime test because underwriting duties “go to the heart of… marketplace offerings, not to the internal
Continue Reading Making A Mountain Of The Administrative/Production Dichotomy Molehill
Authored by Alex Passantino
Seyfarth Synopsis: On July 26, 2017, the U.S. Department of Labor will publish its anticipated Request for Information on the White-Collar Overtime Exemption in the Federal Register. The RFI will give the regulated community 60 days to provide its comments in response.
The RFI seeks input on a wide variety of topics, many of which involve
Continue Reading DOL Seeks Comment on Overtime Rule
Authored by Alex Passantino
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Wage & Hour Division announced its regulatory plan for the next year and it is less ambitious than some may have anticipated. A request for information on the overtime rule and a proposal to rescind a limited tip credit regulation are all that is on the immediate horizon for employers.
Each spring and
Continue Reading What’s on the Agenda? Tips and OT
Co-authored by Robert S. Whitman and Howard M. Wexler
Seyfarth Synopsis: The majority of courts have held that releases of FLSA rights require approval by a court or the US Department of Labor. A recent case in the Southern District of New York highlights a dilemma employers face when seeking “finality” through DOL-approved settlements.
In Wai Hung Chan v. A
Continue Reading Money for Nothing! Court Allows Employees to Pursue Lawsuit Despite DOL Settlement
Co-authored by Cheryl Luce and Noah Finkel
Seyfarth Synopsis: An unpopular DOL regulation that prohibits employers from retaining customer tips received another blow this summer. The Tenth Circuit joined the Fourth Circuit and several district courts in holding that the FLSA does not require employers to turn over customers’ tips to employees so long as those employees are paid at
Continue Reading The Tenth Circuit Takes the DOL Tipping Rule Off the Menu
Co-authored by Robert J. Carty, Jr., John Phillips, and Alex Passantino
Seyfarth Synopsis: On June 30, the Department of Labor filed its reply brief to support its appeal from a preliminary injunction that enjoined the DOL from implementing its 2016 revisions to the salary-level tests for determining applicability of the FLSA’s executive, administrative, and professional exemptions.
Continue Reading Finally Briefed: Appellate Experts’ Perspective on the Fully Briefed 5th Circuit EAP Exemption Appeal
Co-authored by Brett Bartlett, Alex Passantino, and Kevin Young
At last, the federal government has filed its reply brief in the Fifth Circuit concerning its appeal from a Texas district court’s order preliminarily enjoining the 2016 revisions to the FLSA’s executive, administrative, and professional exemptions. Because of the substantive and procedural complexities facing the Department of Labor
Continue Reading Finally Briefed: DOL Files 5th Circuit Reply Defending its Authority to Set Salary Level for EAP Exemptions
Authored by Alex Passantino
Today, the DOL’s Wage & Hour Division (WHD) sent its anticipated Request for Information (RFI) on the overtime rule to the Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). Review of the RFI by OIRA is one of the final steps before publication in the Federal Register.
The RFI is expected to
Continue Reading DOL Sends OT Request for Information to White House for Review
Authored by Alex Passantino
During his Wednesday hearing before a House Appropriations Subcommittee, in which he addressed the Trump Administration’s proposed budget for DOL, Secretary Alexander Acosta informed the committee that the Department planned to issue a Request for Information (RFI) regarding the currently enjoined overtime rules. The anticipated timetable is 2-3 weeks, but it is unclear whether that represents
Continue Reading DOL Expected to Issue Request for Information on OT Rules