Co-authored by Rishi Puri, Noah Finkel, and Andrew Paley
At this point, California employers are all too familiar with litigation seeking compensation for preliminary and postliminary activities. The de minimis doctrine is a main line of defense in actions for these claims. Recognized in the seminal U.S. Supreme Court decision of Anderson v. Mt Clemens Pottery Co.,
Continue Reading Starbucks Ruling Makes the Most of the De Minimis Doctrine
Co-Authored by Rebecca Pratt Bromet and Ashley Choren Workman
From warehouses to retail establishments, airports to power plants, employees in countless industries spend time every day in pre- or post-shift security screenings. For decades, it was well accepted that such time was not compensable under the FLSA. In 2013, however, the Ninth Circuit took a radical step away from established
Continue Reading Will the Supreme Court Provide a Sense of Security For Employers Who Don’t Pay Employees For Going Through Security?
Co-authored by Coby M. Turner and Laura J. Maechtlen
California is bringing Comcast home—last week, California employers were the beneficiary of some down-home wisdom coming out of San Francisco.
Giving some sage advice to the wage and hour community, Judge Alsup in Lou et. al. v. Ma Laboratories, Inc., denied conditional and class certification to a broad class of
Continue Reading Ma (Labs) Knows Best—California Court Uses Comcast To Reject Certification Of An Off-The-Clock Claim
Authored by Alex Passantino
It’s the week before Christmas, so you know it’s the time
For our review of the year—our wage-hour rhyme.
Our look-back on issues from the past 52 weeks
That grabbed the attention of you wage-hour geeks.
Leading us off is no big surprise:
FLSA filings continue to rise.
A 10% bump; they’re not going away,
Continue Reading Donning Your Kerchief and Doffing Your Cap: 2013 Year in Review
Authored by Jessica Schauer Lieberman
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear argument in a case that will directly impact employers relying on § 203(o) of the FLSA – a provision that allows employers to exclude time spent by their employees “changing clothes . . . at the beginning or end of each workday” from compensable time pursuant to
Continue Reading Dress Rehearsals Are Over: Supreme Court To Hear Arguments On Monday Regarding Compensability Of Changing Clothes At Work
As readers of this blog know, Seyfarth Shaw is presenting a series of webinars following the publication of our book, Wage & Hour Collective and Class Litigation (Law Journal Press, 2012). The first of this series last month, “Modeling An Effective & Efficient Defense to Wage & Hour Collective and Class Actions,” was extremely well attended.
Our webinar series continues
Authored by Kara Goodwin
A recent National Economic Research Associates (“NERA”) report, “Trends in Wage and Hour Settlements: 2011 Update,” quantified what most working in the wage-hour litigation field already knew ─ wage and hour cases continue to be a source of potential liability for employers. The report identified 107 settlements of wage and hour cases in 2011, slightly more
Continue Reading Wage and Hour Cases ─ Not Going Away Anytime Soon
Authored by Loren Gesinsky
On January 20, 2012, Magistrate Judge Paul E. Davison of the Southern District of New York recommended decertifying the off-the-clock FLSA claims of 40 current and former IBM call-center representatives in Seward v. IBM. While noting “the scarcity of cases within the Second Circuit” addressing this type of motion, he relied heavily on Zivali v.
Continue Reading Certification of Call Center Class Given the Boot
Authored by Robert Whitman
Addressing two critical issues raised by the current onslaught of “off-the-clock” litigation, the Second Circuit has held unambiguously that an employee’s commuting time is not compensable as part of his “continuous workday,” even if he performs work-related tasks before commuting to work in the morning or after arriving home at night. The court also held that
Continue Reading Second Circuit Clarifies Standards in Off-the-Clock Cases
Authored by Kristin G. McGurn
Following the lead of Judges O’Toole (see 09-cv-11466; 09-cv-11722) and Saylor (see 09-cv-40152; 09-cv-40181) in the District of Massachusetts and Judge Seybert in the Eastern District of New York (see 10-CV-1326), on January 28, 2011, the Honorable Paul A. Crotty in the Southern District of New York