Wage and Hour

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Recently the Oregon legislature passed, and Governor Kate Brown signed, Senate Bill (SB) 1513, revising the Beaver State’s overtime rules for bakers. In addition, the legislature passed House Bill (HB) 4002, revamping the overtime entitlements for farmworkers. That bill is before Governor Brown, who is expected to sign it. As both laws first take effect…

A Miami restaurant’s mandatory 18% service charge did not constitute a “tip” under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and therefore was properly applied toward satisfying the FLSA’s employee wage requirements, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit recently held, affirming summary judgment in favor of the employer. Compere v. Nusret Miami, LLC…

Recently we reported on the efforts of the Restaurant Law Center (RLC), an independent public policy organization affiliated with the National Restaurant Association, to invalidate the Dual Jobs Final Rule published by the Department of Labor (DOL). To that end, in early February the RLC filed a motion for preliminary injunction in federal court in…

In March 2021, then-Governor Ralph Northam (D), backed by a full Democratic majority in the General Assembly (Virginia’s legislative body), signed the Virginia Overtime Wage Act, greatly expanding the State’s overtime requirements effective July 1, 2021. Prior to the Act, Virginia adopted the overtime requirements of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

During the…

Several recent lawsuits have been filed in federal court, one challenging the Dual Jobs Final Rule published by the Department of Labor (DOL) that became effective in late December 2021, and two others filed this week by several state attorneys general challenging President Biden’s Executive Order requiring most federal contractors to pay a minimum wage…

Last week, Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) was absent from the meeting of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee – and that spelled good news for the Biden Administration’s nominee to head the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the Department of Labor, Dr. David Weil. The nomination of Dr. Weil, who previously held the…

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently affirmed the dismissal of a plaintiff’s Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and New York Labor Law (NYLL) overtime pay claims in federal court, after she previously had obtained relief for substantially similar claims in small claims court. Simmons v. Trans Express, Inc., 2021…

Although it may have intended for a customer charge to be treated as an administrative overhead fee separate from gratuities paid to its employees, a country club’s reference to the amount as a “service charge” in some documents necessarily required that the amount retained be paid to the employees, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts…

A security company did not violate the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) when, under its meal-period policy, it automatically deducted an hour of pay from its security officers on certain flights, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has held. Dean v. Akal Security, Inc., 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 18621 (5th Cir. June 22, 2021).…

Affirming the dismissal of wage and hour claims against “big box” retailer Lowe’s, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed that company bonuses, provided to employees following 2018 revisions to federal tax law, were rightly excluded from the “regular rate” used to calculate overtime compensation under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The Fourth Circuit…