Skip to main content

Fair Labor Standards Act Update: Recent Federal Court Decisions Signal Potential Trend Against Requiring Judicial Approval of FLSA Settlements

On August 8, 2022, a Kentucky federal judge granted two stipulated dismissals filed by plaintiffs in a conditionally certified Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) case—without first reviewing and approving the settlement entered into between the parties. U.S. District Judge Benjamin Beaton’s decision to decline judicial review of the parties’ FLSA settlement is significant because courts […]

Can Companies Use the Outside Sales Exemption During a Pandemic?

COVID-19 has altered the way nearly every employee performs their work. Videoconferencing and phone calls have largely replaced in-person visits and face-to-face meetings in many workplaces. By extension, many sales employees who used to visit customers in person now do so remotely. While convenient, this practice may compromise their status as exempt employees under federal […]

| 1 min read | Tagged: , , , , ,

There May Be Some Good News Coming to Companies Using Independent Contractors – At Least Under Federal Law

While states like California continue to make it tougher for companies to properly classify workers as independent contractors by adopting the ABC test, on September 25, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a notice of proposed rulemaking seeking to simplify and clarify how to determine whether a worker is an employee or an independent […]

| 2 min read | Tagged: , , ,

COVID-19: Employment Squalls Likely to Hit Employers

Many employers have opened for business and now hope for much-needed smooth sailing. As they chart their course for open and calm waters, however, employers would be well-served to keep their spyglasses focused on the horizon’s rough seas. Click here to continue reading.

| 1 min read | Tagged: , , , , ,
KB
AD
BH
Of Counsel

Modernizing the FLSA: DOL Gives the 7(i) Exemption a Makeover

Section 7(i) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) provides an often overlooked, but useful, exemption to an employer’s overtime obligations for certain commission-based employees of retail and service establishments. However, to claim the exemption, employers must first determine: are they a “retail or service establishment?” Click here to continue reading.

| 1 min read | Tagged: , , , ,
SP
Former Associate

New Senate Bill Seeks to Expand Protections for Nursing Mothers

Currently under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), employers with 50 or more employees are required to provide “reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for her nursing child for 1 year after the child’s birth each time such employee has need to express the milk.” [1] Employers are also required to […]

| 2 min read | Tagged: , , ,
AD

The DOL Starts 2020 With a Bevy of Opinion Letters

Not sitting on its laurels, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has already issued three new opinion letters to begin the year.  Two deal with issues under the FLSA and a third addresses issues under the FMLA. Opinion letter number one provides guidance as to the nature of the calculation of the regular rate of […]

CJ

U.S. Department of Labor Issues New Rule Clarifying Exclusions from Overtime Calculation

On December 12, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) finalized a new rule that lets employers leave several perks, including tuition benefits, paid leave cash-outs, and some bonuses, out of the formula used to calculate employees’ overtime pay. According to the DOL’s press release, this new rule “marks the first significant update to the regulations […]

| 1 min read | Tagged: , ,

Nevada’s New Employment Laws in 2020

Nevada has undergone a significant transformation regarding the legal landscape affecting Nevada’s Employers. Several of these new laws have just recently gone into effect or are slated to go into effect at the beginning of the new year. Click here for some of the recent changes that Nevada employers should know about.

SP
Partner

UPDATE: Scalia Fills Labor Role

On September 26, 2019, the Senate confirmed labor and employment attorney Eugene Scalia for Labor Secretary, in a 53-44 vote that was divided along party lines. Scalia served as the Labor Department’s chief legal officer from 2002-2003, before entering private practice. The son of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Eugene Scalia will assume […]

| 1 min read | Tagged: , , ,