Exemptions

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The Eleventh Circuit has found that an individual who is not authorized to work in the United States can recover alleged unpaid wages under the FLSA, rejecting an employer’s argument that Supreme Court’s decision in Quality Inn in Hoffman Plastic Compounds, Inc. v. NLRB, 535 U.S. 137 (2002), bars such claims.

In so…

One of the industry-specific overtime exemptions contained in 29 U.S.C. § 213(b) is the exemption from overtime applicable to sales employees engaged in selling “trailers, boats, or aircraft, if he is employed by a nonmanufacturing establishment primarily engaged in the business of selling trailers, boats, or aircraft to ultimate purchasers.”  Judge Carlton W. Reeves of…

The United States District Court for the District of Maryland recently held that deductions from an exempt employee’s weekly salary for leave taken pursuant to an unpaid leave policy offering such leave only in full day increments did not impact the employee’s exempt status. Kulish v. Rite Aid Corp., 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 176760…

FLSA litigation generally moves from industry-to-industry, and, in the most recent wave of litigation, one of the hardest hit industries has been the accounting profession, particularly the “big four” accounting firms, which have been subjected to large-scale challenges of their classification of junior accountants as exempt. Typically, these individuals hold accounting degrees and…

As Human Resources professionals already know, running an HR department – or fulfilling the HR function on one’s own – is an integral component of administering an employer’s business. But do those duties necessarily translate into qualifying exempt duties under the FLSA? One recent federal decision confirms that the answer is yes. Farnham v. Riimic, 2012…

The Fair Labor Standards Act exempts teachers from minimum wage and overtime as professionals where their “primary duty is teaching, tutoring, instructing or lecturing in the activity of imputing knowledge and [the employee is] employed and engaged in this activity as a teacher in an educational establishment by which the employee is employed.” 29 C.F.R. §…

The FLSA’s highly technical motor carrier exemption applies to certain employees of motor carriers regulated by the Department of Transportation whose work affects the transportation of goods in interstate commerce. In addition to qualifying drivers, the exemption applies to mechanics, driver’s helpers, and also to “loaders,” who balance the cargo in motor carrier vehicles, thereby affecting…

The overtime exemption applicable to "retail or service" employees codified at 29 USC § 207(i) has three requirements, as we have discussed in this space, and two of the requirements are readily met in many cases: the employee must receive time-and-one-half the minimum wage (currently $10.88/hour under federal law) for all hours worked inclusive of…