Labor and Employment Law Blog

U.S. Department of Labor Proposes New Salary Threshold Rule

On March 7, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released its long-awaited Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to update the minimum salary threshold under the Fair Labor Standards Act – an update that would make approximately a million more workers eligible for overtime pay. The DOL released the details on its website[1] ahead of […]

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Does Your Employee Handbook Have a Lactation Accommodation Policy?

Many employers are familiar with break and meal period requirements applicable to their organization under state and federal law. Often overlooked, however, is an employer’s responsibilities toward nursing mothers. We take a look at some of the requirements employers should be aware of when reviewing their lactation accommodation policies here.

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Winter Edition Of “Under Construction” Newsletter Published!

The winter edition of Snell & Wilmer’s “Under Construction” newsletter is out now. This issue takes a looks at: The importance of reviewing all of the contract documents or templates you may have to evaluate whether they need to be refreshed or overhauled. Legal accountability, construction accidents and OSHA. This article offers a few key questions […]

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A Working Interview? You’d Better Pay Me

Recently, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee approved a permanent injunction and order filed by the United States Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) Office of the Solicitor against a dental practice based in Nashville. In so doing, the Court ordered the practice to pay $50,000 in back wages and liquidated damages […]

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OSHA Updates (Part 3) – Are You Entering Injuries on OSHA 300 Logs Within Seven Days?

In a recent Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) case, OSHA issued a serious, willful citation for an employer’s failure to log an employee injury on its OSHA 300 log within seven days. In this case, the employee was injured while operating a chainsaw. After being notified of the injury, OSHA eventually began its investigation. […]

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OSHA Updates (Part 2) – OSHA Clarifies Position on Incentive Programs and Drug Testing

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) published its Final Rule on May 12, 2016 regarding safety incentive programs and post-incident drug testing. However, recently, OSHA published a clarification of its Final Rule on these two topics. OSHA’s main purpose in publishing this clarification memorandum is to ensure that employers know that OSHA does not […]

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OSHA Updates (Part 1) – OSHA 300 Logs: Not Enough to Expand Inspection

In a recent Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals decision, the Court found that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) 300 recordable injury and illness log does not, by itself, establish the existence of an OSHA violation in a workplace. In USA v. Mar-Jac Poultry, Inc., OSHA demanded to expand the scope of an injury-based […]

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Department of Labor Changes Course and Ends “80/20 Rule” for Tipped Employees

This month, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (“Division”) issued an opinion letter that, once again, reversed the Division’s position as to which service industry employees may be subject to the “tip credit.” For those who do not know, the tip credit permits an employer to pay its tipped employees not less than […]

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Corporate Function — Not Corporate Formality — Determines FLSA Status

The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, in its October 3, 2018 opinion, reiterated that a worker’s status as an employee or an independent contractor cannot be determined by corporate formalities or labels alone. In Acosta v. Jani-King of Okla., Inc., Case No. 17-6179, 2018 WL 4762748 (10th Cir. Oct. 3, 2018), the court found that […]

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The U.S. Department of Labor Issues Six New Wage and Hour Opinion Letters

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) issued six new opinion letters this week, covering employer compliance issues under both the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The opinion letters can be found here. The six new opinion letters address the following issues: Compensability of time […]

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