John Ayers-Mann and Kerry Friedrichs
Seyfarth Synopsis: In a recent decision, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals rebuked a Pennsylvania district court’s skeletal analysis of plaintiffs’ class action claims. Particularly, the court took issue with the district court’s failure to define the classes with sufficient specificity and failure to undertake a rigorous analysis of Rule 23’s predominance and commonality
Continue Reading Class Claims Deserve More Rigorous Treatment, Third Circuit Holds
It’s the week before Christmas, and in our practice group meeting,
We look back and consider the year that’s completing.
The wage-hour nuggets that earn all our favor,
Wond’ring “Is this the last time I’ll be rhyming ‘class waiver’?”
Because the Supreme Court weighed in and said it is OK.
In exchange for employment,
Continue Reading All I Want for Christmas is a Fair Reading of Exemptions: 2018 Year In Review
By: Patrick Bannon and Michael Steinberg
Seyfarth Synopsis: Two recent decisions by federal courts in Massachusetts highlight barriers to litigating FLSA cases on a nationwide basis — including a personal jurisdiction defense that could preclude a nationwide collective in many FLSA cases.
The defendant in the first case was a Fortune 100 company that conducts business pervasively throughout the
Continue Reading Litigate Locally (Not Nationwide), Federal Courts Increasingly Tell FLSA Plaintiffs
Remember that time when the Wage & Hour Division published a final rule increasing the minimum salary level for the white-collar exemptions to $47,476 per year? And then a court enjoined the rule from going forward? And then the whole thing got put on hold with the change in Administration?
Apparently, so does WHD!
After last
Continue Reading White-Collar Tour 2018: WHD Wants to Hear from You
By: Simon L. Yang and Kevin M. Young
Seyfarth Synopsis: Most wage and hour laws set out to benefit and protect workers in some way. The recent wave of state and local predictive scheduling laws and minimum wage hikes is no different. Yet it is critical to assess, and attempt to account for, the possibility that these laws could
Continue Reading The Tension Between Present and Future in Wage and Hour Lawmaking
By: Robert S. Whitman and Howard M. Wexler
Seyfarth Synopsis: The U.S. Department of Labor has announced the launch of the Payroll Audit Independent Determination program—or “PAID”— to facilitate the resolution of overtime and minimum wage claims under the FLSA without litigation. New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman recently called PAID “nothing more than a Get Out of Jail
Continue Reading NY Attorney General “PAID” Lip Service to DOL Initiative
Authored by Colton Long and Noah Finkel
Seyfarth Synopsis: Employers seeking to show that they correctly have classified an employee as exempt from the FLSA’s overtime requirements often have faced hostility from courts under the misimpression that FLSA exemptions must be “construed narrowly.” Today the United Supreme Court put to rest the “narrow construction” doctrine, signaling to district and appellate
Continue Reading Encino Motorcars, LLC v. Navarro: SCOTUS Puts The Brakes On Faulty FLSA Construction Language
By: Joshua A. Rodine and Christopher J. Truxler
Seyfarth Synopsis: California employers must use the formula prescribed by the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement Manual to calculate overtime on flat sum bonuses, not the bonus overtime formula used under federal law.
California law generally follows federal law as to how employers should calculate overtime pay on nondiscretionary bonuses for non-exempt
Continue Reading Federal Formula for “Flat Sum” Bonus Overtime Calculation Rejected
By Robert A. Fisher and Molly C. Mooney
Seyfarth Synopsis: In an important decision, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court clarified the scope of personal liability for unpaid wages under the Massachusetts Wage Act. The SJC held that board members and directors of a company generally cannot be held personally liable for unpaid wages, unless they take on significant management
Continue Reading Company Investors and Board Members Off The Hook For Unpaid Wages In Massachusetts
‘Twas the week before Christmas, and the WH-L-PG
Contemplated the wage-hour year lyrically;
We considered the issues our readers would most like to savor
And decided the tastiest one was class waiver.
“Employers and employees,” begins the debate,
“Are free to agree that they shall arbitrate.”
But a critical question remains–it is whether
Employees can be stopped from
Continue Reading Here We Come a Waiver-ing: 2017 Year in Review