While Department of Labor regulations interpreting the FLSA remain the primary source of employer guidance regarding the Act’s requirements, they are not necessarily the final word on what federal wage law requires. This is so even where they have been subject to “notice and comment,” triggering a higher level of judicial deference. A federal court
fair labor standards act
U.S. Department of Labor Issues Revised FLSA Poster
The U.S. Department of Labor has issued a new FLSA poster, available for download here. Covered employers should replace old posters with the Department’s new versions. Employers should periodically review their compliance with FLSA and state law posting and notice requirements, particularly as related to tipped workers.
Ninth Circuit Affirms: Not All Complaints About Work Policies Relating to Hours “Protected Activity” Under the FLSA
The substantive provisions of the FLSA protect covered non-exempt employees’ right to receive minimum wage and, as applicable, overtime pay. The statute’s anti-retaliation provision is co-extensive: it protects employees from termination or other adverse employment action in response to complaints that those provisions were violated. The FLSA however does not extend anti-retaliation protections to employees…
New Jersey Court: Meal Preparation, Other Tasks Properly Part of “Companion” Duties Under Old Test
In 2013 the Department of Labor announced new regulatory language that substantially limited the scope of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s companionship exemption. Those regulations, of course, were challenged through litigation which remains ongoing, and their implementation by the USDOL was delayed until many months after the original effective date of January 1, 2015. Though…
Louisiana Federal Court Rules Half-Time Method Applies to Calculation of Any Alleged Unpaid Overtime and Bonuses Paid Offset Any Potential Liability
Courts addressing FLSA misclassification claims brought by employees classified as salaried exempt workers must determine damages. In a new decision from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, Judge Jane Triche Milazzo ruled that successful Plaintiffs in one such misclassification case are only entitled to “half-time” damages. Further, the Court…
Fifth Circuit: Employer Has Right to Mandate Employee Compliance with Overtime Reporting Procedures And Is Not Liable When Employee Fails to Follow Procedures
Overtime claims based on alleged “off the clock” work often turn on the question of whether the employer has “suffered or permitted” the employee to work uncompensated hours in excess of forty in the workweek. The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has affirmed a Mississippi district court’s finding that an employer…
Caretakers’ Own Homes Were “Private Homes,” Rendering Them Exempt Companions
Though the USDOL’s new rule regarding overtime-eligibility for home care workers is currently in force, pending appeal, litigation continues over the prior rule. A new appellate ruling addresses the scope of the term “private home” for purposes of the prior rule, clarifying that the former exemption applies to caregiver work in the private homes…
Ohio Federal Court Rules Home Care Agency Not Required To Pay Overtime To “Companions” During Temporary Vacatur Of New Federal Rules
Providing much needed guidance to industry employers still wrestling with fallout from the United States Department of Labor’s drastic reduction to the scope of the companionship exemption, District Court Judge Sandra S. Beckwith held this week that a home care agency properly relied on the temporary vacatur of the DOL’s new federal regulations in…
Ohio Federal Court Rejects Challenge to Application of Companionship Exemption to Home Health Aide
Last week, an Ohio, a federal judge held that a home health aide failed to demonstrate that she performed general housework unrelated to the care of her patients, and therefore qualified as a provider of companionship services under the Fair Labor Standards Act’s previous formulation of the “companion” exemption. As such, the home health…
When Will The DOL Issue Final Regulations Increasing The Salary Basis Threshold?
Since the United States Department of Labor announced its intention, in response to the President’s directive, to more than double the salary basis necessary to qualify for the “white collar” exemptions from overtime, the business community has swung into action. Employers and associations have both been lobbying for a more modest increase to the minimum…