In the latest chapter in the series of cases brought throughout New York State involving compensation of Registered Nurses and other hospital medical support staff, Judge Norman A. Mordue recently rejected plaintiffs’ assertion that, by allegedly failing to include time spent working during meal periods in Plaintiffs’ hours worked, the hospital “deducted” from the plaintiffs&rsquo
auto deduct
EDNY Judge Rules Suggested Gratuity Did Not Factor Into Overtime Calculation and Upholds Validity of Auto-Deduct For Meal Periods
By Noel P. Tripp on
Posted in Regular Rate, Tips and Tipped Employees
As discussed repeatedly in these pages and elsewhere, employers have faced innumerable lawsuits regarding their alleged failure to distribute amounts purported to be gratuities to service staff in their entirety. However, even distributing tip money dollar-for-dollar to service providers is not a panacea against wage claims, as highlighted in a new opinion issuing from the…
Courts Decertify Collective Actions Based On Auto-Deduct Claims, Citing Individualized Issues
By Noel P. Tripp on
Posted in Hours of Work
As we have repeatedly discussed, use of a so-called “auto-deduct”, wherein a predetermined amount of time is automatically deducted from an employee’s hours of work to correspond to a meal period with the understanding that the employee will perform no work during that period, can give rise to individual or class claims that an…
Detroit Federal Court Rejects Employee’s Attempt To Seek Recovery Based on Auto-Deducted Meal Break
By Noel P. Tripp on
Posted in Hours of Work
In this post, we discussed two different courts’ analyses of hospital plaintiffs’ attempts to seek conditional certification of their claims that they were not paid for allegedly working meal periods due to the employers’ use of an auto-deduct for meal periods. In an opinion addressing such a claim on the merits (as opposed to the…
Federal Court Finds Automatic Meal Break Deduction Alone Insufficient For Collective Treatment
By Noel P. Tripp on
Posted in Hours of Work
As previously discussed, the FLSA requires payment for all hours where an employer “suffers or permits” an employee to work. Compensable time can include time ostensibly designated for meal and other breaks if the employee in question is not completely relieved of duty and/or if the period is insufficient length. Aggrieved employees often allege that employers systemically…