Justin R. Barnes

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“When an employer, as here, decides to allow employees to retain some portion of an unused health insurance credit, it can permissibly structure the program to prop up the employee health plans without treating the full amount of the health credit as part of the FLSA regular rate of pay.”…
Continue Reading Ninth Circuit: Health Insurance Opt-Out Fees Not Part of Regular Rate for Overtime Purposes

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has issued its long-anticipated proposed rule to increase the minimum salary requirements for the “white collar” exemptions (executive, administrative, and professional) from minimum wage and overtime pay requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

Under the proposed rule, the salary level for the white-collar exemptions to apply will…

A federal district court in Arizona held this week that courts are not required – or even authorized – to grant judicial approval of settlement agreements resolving individual claims brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), joining a growing number of courts calling into question the notion that private FLSA settlements require review and…

Reviving a security guard’s claim for overtime pay, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals recently reiterated that employers may not pay employees an artificially low regular rate of pay to avoid paying the proper amount of overtime. Thompson v. Regions Sec. Servs., Inc., 67 F.4th 1301 (11th Cir. 2023). The Eleventh Circuit oversees the…

According to the latest report from the U.S Department of Labor (DOL) regarding its regulatory agenda, released this week, the DOL has now set the publication of the new proposed Overtime Rule for August 2023. However, given the current status of the President’s nominees for both the Secretary of Labor and the Wage and Hour…

A named plaintiff who files a collective action for overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and whose individual claims are dismissed without prejudice because the district court lacks jurisdiction over the plaintiff’s former employer, is not entitled to tolling of the statute of limitations of those claims. Therefore, when the plaintiff subsequently…

In a June 9, 2023 filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) stated that its Independent Contractor (IC) Final Rule, addressing the standard for determining whether a worker is an employee or “independent contractor” under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), will not be ready…

Labor Secretary nominee Julie Su continues to face close scrutiny by Republican members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, at least some of whom believe she is not qualified for the position. Notably, however, during the Committee hearing on her nomination, Su plainly stated that , in her view, the DOL…