Authored by Alex Passantino
The Department of Labor has submitted the final overtime rule to OMB for review. Typically, OMB review takes 30 to 60 days. Last year, OMB reviewed the proposed rule for just about 60 days before approving it. On this timetable, DOL is looking at the possibility of a May date for publication of a final rule.
Continue Reading Get Ready!: OT Rules to OMB
Co-authored by Richard Alfred and Kevin Young
Wage and hour litigation continues to soar to record highs. So says the federal judiciary’s most recent data on cases filed in federal court over the last federal fiscal year. After hitting an all-time high of 8,160 in FY14, the annual wage and hour caseload spiked another 7.6%—to 8,781—in
Continue Reading Another Year, Another All-Time High for Wage and Hour Litigation
Co-authored by Robert Whitman, Joanna Smith, and Samuel Sverdlov
Joining a budding national trend, renowned restaurateur Danny Meyer of Union Square Hospitality Group last week announced that he will eliminate formal tipping at his restaurants starting in 2016. Meyer stated that the new policy, aptly named “Hospitality Included,” is meant to better compensate “back of house” staff, who
Continue Reading Tip-Toeing Around Class Actions: Can a “No Tipping” Policy End Wage and Hour Litigation in the Hospitality Industry?
Co-authored by Gena Usenheimer and Jade Wallace
As we reported earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Labor has been fighting nearly 14 months of legal challenges in connection with its attempt to modify the FLSA’s companionship exemption. On Friday, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld the DOL’s proposed regulations. Assuming no
Continue Reading Home Health Care Agencies Feeling Sick After Friday’s Circuit Court Ruling
Authored by Abad Lopez
Starting July 1, 2015, the minimum wage in the City of Chicago is $10 per hour. The Chicago City Council approved an ordinance that also increases the city’s minimum wage in successive increments through July 1, 2019. By enacting this ordinance, Chicago becomes one of the largest U.S. cities to adopt such a measure—following a trend
Continue Reading From Stanley Cup to Ante Up: Minimum Wage Increase Sweeps Chicagoland
Co-authored by Abad Lopez and Noah Finkel
The two-step “send notice now/worry later” approach to FLSA collective actions — in which courts approve notice to potential collective action members under the lenient standard but comfort defendant-employers with the bromide of “don’t worry, we can revisit the issue at the decertification stage under a more rigorous standard” — continues to leave
Continue Reading Out of the Pizza Oven, Into the Fire: Any Way You Slice It, Lenient Standard at Conditional Certification Stage Doesn’t Cut It
Co-authored by Lynn Kappelman, Timothy Haley, and Karla E. Sanchez
Recently, we learned that the Department of Labor’s Wage & Hour Division has launched a sweeping FLSA compliance review focused on major retailers who employ janitorial workers. As part of that initiative, WHD has visited multiple retailer locations and has interviewed location management and janitorial employees. WHD has
Continue Reading The Department of Labor Investigates Retailers’ Relationships with Janitors
Authored by Alex Passantino
In a post today on the U.S. Department of Labor’s blog, WHD Administrator, Dr. David Weil, announced that WHD recovered more than $240 million in back wages for more than 270,000 workers in FY2014. This recovery was slightly down from FY2013’s $249 million. Since 2009, WHD has recovered more than $1.3 billion as a
Continue Reading WHD Recovers $240 Million for More Than 270,000 Workers
Co-authored by Gena B. Usenheimer and Jade Wallace
The close of 2014 presented a host of potential problems for home health care providers. As a result of new Department of Labor (“DOL”) regulations changing the federal “companionship” exemption from overtime and minimum wage requirements, many home health care agencies have been bracing themselves for significant changes to their
Continue Reading Home Health Care Agencies Find Companion in Federal Court
Co-authored by Gerald L. Maatman, Jr. and Jennifer A. Riley
Restaurant servers are some of the few employees to whom employers can pay less than the minimum wage. This is because they receive tips from customers that, so long as those tips are large enough, often push an employee’s income well above minimum wage. The FLSA thus allows an employer
Continue Reading Court Batters “Dual Jobs” Claim And Finds That Servers’ Duties Do Not Require Minimum Wage