Last year, a Manhattan federal district judge reviewed a decision of a federal bankruptcy court and held that Lehman Brothers was not required to pay a $350,000 performance bonus referenced in the offer letter of a prospective employee who never provided services. In doing so, the Court observed that the Firm terminated the contractual relationship
second circuit
Second Circuit: MLB “Fanfest” Properly Treated as Exempt Recreational Establishment
By Noel P. Tripp on
Posted in Exemptions
Last year, Judge John G. Koeltl of the Southern District of New York ruled that individuals who served as volunteers at the 2013 Major League Baseball All Star Weekend FanFest, a four-day event centered around the All Star Game, were not entitled to minimum wage because they were “employed by an establishment which is…
Second Circuit Affirms “Supervision” Doctrine Vis a Vis FLSA Settlements
By Noel P. Tripp on
Posted in Department of Labor, Litigation
Bringing some degree of clarity to the murky question of whether parties can dismiss a pending FLSA lawsuit on their own volition, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has ruled that any dismissal with prejudice requires “the approval of the district court or the DOL to take effect.” Cheeks v. Freeport Pancake House…
Second Circuit Holds That Contract Attorney Properly Alleged Misclassification Claim
By Noel P. Tripp on
Posted in Exemptions
Reversing Judge Richard J. Sullivan’s 2014 decision, a panel of the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled today that a contract attorney who provided document review services on a multi-district litigation for a law firm through a third party staffing firm colorably alleged an FLSA violation based on his assertion that the…
Joining Other Circuits, Ninth Circuit Requires Specificity In FLSA Pleading
By Noel P. Tripp on
Posted in Uncategorized
Joining sister Circuits, on Wednesday the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that an employee must set forth specific information regarding his or her work hours to properly plead an FLSA claim for unpaid minimum wages or overtime under the Iqbal doctrine. Landers v. Quality Communs., Inc., 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS…
Brooklyn Federal Court Rejects Allegation That Not-For-Profit Board President Was An Employer
By Noel P. Tripp on
Posted in Coverage
Many courts, including the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, have ruled that under certain circumstances an individual can be a statutory “employer” under the Fair Labor Standards Act, liable for minimum or overtime wages usually along with a corporate entity. The scope of such potential liability and the precise formulation of the…
Third Circuit Joins Second Circuit In Rejecting Vague Pleadings of FLSA Violations
By Noel P. Tripp on
Posted in Litigation
The Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has joined the Second Circuit’s recent opinions requiring plaintiffs in FLSA cases to provide more than generalized allegations regarding hours worked in order to satisfy the the Supreme Court’s Iqbal/Twombly standard (all arising in the medical setting). Davis v. Abington Mem. Hosp., 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS…
Second Circuit Finds Audit Associates Are Exempt Professionals
By Noel P. Tripp on
Posted in Exemptions
Affirming a highly-publicized 2012 decision from Southern District of New York Judge Colleen McMahon, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled last week that audit associates employed by “Big Four” accountancy KPMG qualified for the learned professional exemption from overtime under the FLSA. Pippins v. Kpmg Llp, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS…
Second Circuit Upholds Volunteer Finding Vis a Vis Former Student Turned School Aid
By Noel P. Tripp on
Posted in Coverage
In December 2012, we discussed a lower court’s ruling that a young man who volunteered his time at his old high school working with at risk youths was not an “employee” within the meaning of the Fair Labor Standards Act entitled to minimum wage protection. On appeal, the Court of Appeals for the Second…
Chamber of Commerce’s Amicus Brief Argues For Economic Value of Internships to Businesses, Employees and Students
By Noel P. Tripp on
Posted in Coverage
As the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit prepares to hear argument and ultimately rule in the consolidated appeal involving former interns for Hearst Publishing and Fox Searchlight seeking minimum wage under the FLSA, the Court received amicus submissions from several organizations, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the largest employer association.
The Chamber’s…