On July 29, 2021, the US Department of Labor filed a final rule rescinding the Trump-era “Joint Employer Status Under the Fair Labor Standards Act” rule, which went into effect on March 16, 2020.
Continue Reading US DOL Finalizes Rescission of Trump’s Joint Employer Rule
For over 30 years, most district courts throughout the country have used a two-step conditional certification process to govern certification of collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act. But in a recent and game-changing opinion, the Fifth Circuit rejected that two-step process and laid out a stricter framework for FLSA collective actions.
Continue Reading Fifth Circuit Rejects Two-Step FLSA Certification Process
On July 1, 2019, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued an opinion letter regarding permissible rounding practices under the Service Contract Act (“SCA”). While the SCA governs government contractors, the DOL’s guidance is nevertheless helpful to retailers because the SCA incorporates Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) rounding principles, which are applicable to them.
Continue Reading Latest DOL Guidance Sanctions Rounding Practices
As reported on the Hunton Employment & Labor Perspectives Blog on May 14, 2019, Massachusetts’ highest court, The Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”), recently issued its long awaited decision in Sullivan v. Sleepy’s LLC, SJC-12542, in which the SJC responded to certified questions of first impression from the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
Continue Reading Massachusetts Retail and Inside Salespersons Are Now Entitled to Overtime and Sunday Premium Pay
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, employers in some instances may deduct money directly from the employee’s paycheck, notably for mistake or fraud. Continue reading for an in-depth look at the relevant laws retailers need to understand.
Continue Reading Employee Theft: Can Employers Deduct Suspected or Known Theft from an Employee’s Paycheck?
Earlier this month, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) dropped its defense of an Obama-era regulation that sought to increase the salary level for overtime-exempt employees from $23,660 per year to $47,476 per year. The regulation had been set to take effect in November 2016, but a last-minute preliminary injunction issued by a federal district court in Texas stayed the implementation of the regulation.
In the preliminary injunction ruling, the district court ruled that the new $47,476 salary threshold exceeded the scope of the DOL’s authority because such a high salary level had the effect of making an employee’s salary—and not their primary duty—the determinative factor in the exemption inquiry. Importantly, the district court’s preliminary injunction ruling went well beyond the appropriateness of the particular salary level at issue in the new regulation, and instead expressed the broader view that the DOL lacked the authority to impose any salary level requirement (regardless of the level of salary chosen) because the relevant provision of the FLSA focused on an employee’s duties, not their salary.
Continue Reading DOL Drops Appellate Defense of Overtime Rule
On June 7, 2017, the Department of Labor announced that it is withdrawing two administrative interpretations issued by the Department of Labor under the Obama administration in 2015 and 2016 relating to misclassification of independent contractors and joint employment.
Continue Reading DOL Announces Rollback of Policies on Joint Employment and Employee Classification
Recently, two partners on Hunton & Williams’ Labor & Employment team discussed the possible effects of a recent Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals case that creates an altogether new and incredibly broad joint employment standard under the Fair Labor Standards Act. This blog post contains a link to the full article.
Continue Reading Fourth Circuit Decision Creates Incredibly Broad Joint Employment Standard
The United States Supreme Court has granted consolidated review of three cases to determine whether arbitration agreements that waive employees’ rights to participate in a class action lawsuit against their employer are unlawful.
Continue Reading Supreme Court to Rule on Legality of Class Action Waivers in Employer Arbitration Agreements
A recent Department of Labor rule is set to double the weekly salary amount required to be exempt from overtime effective December 1, 2016.
Continue Reading Are You Ready for the DOL New Overtime Rule?