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Continue Reading California Supreme Court Hears Oral Argument to Define “Independent Contractor”
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Continue Reading California Supreme Court Hears Oral Argument to Define “Independent Contractor”
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
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 Steve Shardonofsky and Kevin A. Fritz
Seyfarth Synopsis: As employers begin to pick up the pieces following Hurricane Harvey, management will likely encounter questions about employee pay, benefits, and leaves of absence during and after this disaster, and may also have questions about how to help their workers get by during this difficult time. After making sure your …
Continue Reading Practical Advice for Weathering Pay and Leave Issues Following Hurricane Harvey
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
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
Authored by John P. Phillips
Seyfarth Synopsis: Recently the Ninth Circuit doubled down on its decision that service advisers at car dealerships are not exempt from the FLSA, despite being overturned once by the U.S. Supreme Court. This case gives the Supreme Court an excellent opportunity to address the proper construction of FLSA exemptions and allow the plain and common …
Continue Reading The Ninth Circuit Goes All In. Will the Supreme Court Call?
Co-authored by Rachel M. Hoffer and John Phillips
Seyfarth Synopsis: Vampire Weekend crassly and rhetorically asked us, “Who gives a f*** about an Oxford comma?” As it turns out, lots of people: First Circuit judges, dairy farmers in Maine, truck drivers, your authors—the list goes on.
And when lists go on—as a Maine dairy company recently learned the hard…
Continue Reading Comma, Comma, Comma, Comma, Comma Chameleon: Liability Comes and Goes with Oxford Comma
Authored by Hillary J. Massey
Seyfarth Synopsis: It remains to be seen whether the Trump administration will redirect its enforcement priorities away from independent contractor misclassification issues or curtail the applicable standards in the coming years. Because states and plaintiffs’ attorneys likely will continue to aggressively pursue independent contractor matters, employers should consider auditing their independent contractor positions to identify …
Continue Reading Independent Contractor Standards Uncertain Despite New Administration