Wage and Hour Defense Blog

A group of 21 states ("the States") has filed a Complaint in the Eastern District of Texas challenging the new regulations from U.S. Department of Labor that re-define the white collar exemptions to the overtime requirements of the FLSA.  The States argue the DOL overstepped its authority by, among other things, establishing a new minimum salary threshold for those exemptions.

Pursuant to the new regulations from the U.S. Department of Labor, effective December 1, 2016:

• the salary threshold for the executive, administrative, and professional exemption will effectively double ...

In a "Tip of the Week" segment on Employment Law This Week, Will Hansen, Senior Vice President of Retirement Policy for The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC), offers some advice on preparing a benefits program in advance of the Department of Labor’s overtime rule:

"The Department of Labor's Final Rule increasing the overtime exemption threshold to $47,476 dollars will not only have an impact on the wages an employee receives, but also the benefits that they receive. In advance of these changes taking effect on December 1st, it's important for companies to review their benefit ...

In May, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) announced its final rule to increase the minimum salary for white collar exemptions.  With little more than two months to go before that new rule takes effect on December 1, 2016, employers still have time to decide how to address those otherwise exempt employees whose current salaries would not satisfy the new rule by either increasing their salaries or converting them to non-exempt status.

But some of those decisions may not be easy ones.  And they may create some unexpected challenges, both financially and operationally.

New Salary ...

[caption id="attachment_2743" align="alignright" width="113"] Michael D. Thompson[/caption]

In Gonzalez v. Allied Concrete Industries, Inc., thirteen construction laborers filed suit in the Eastern District of New York.  The plaintiffs claimed they worked in excess of forty hours per week, but were not paid overtime in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act and the New York Labor Law.

To obtain information regarding the plaintiffs’ activities during hours they claimed to have been working, the defendants sought an order compelling discovery of their ATM and cell phone ...

[caption id="attachment_2734" align="alignright" width="113"] Julie Badel[/caption]

Addressing an unusual set of facts, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia has dismissed a suit challenging an employer’s practice of retaining tips that customers give to valets. The plaintiff in Malivuk v. Ameripark, No. 1:15:cv-2570 WSD (N.D. Ga. 2016), alleged that she was promised an hourly wage plus tips but that her employer, who provided valet parking services, retained a portion of the tips.

The defendant moved to dismiss the case because the plaintiff did not ...

Featured on Employment Law This Week: Employers in the city of Chicago will soon be required to offer up to 40 hours of paid sick leave a year.

The City Council unanimously approved the paid sick leave ordinance, which will apply to all individuals and businesses with at least one employee. Chicago will now join more than two dozen other U.S. cities that require employers to provide paid sick leave. The mayor is expected to sign the ordinance, which is scheduled to go into effect July 1, 2017.

View the episode below or read more about this ordnance in an Epstein Becker Green Act Now ...

Our colleagues Denise Merna Dadika and Brian W. Steinbach, attorneys in the Employment, Labor & Workforce Management practice at Epstein Becker Green, have a post on the Health Employment and Labor blog that will be of interest to many of our readers: "U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Review DOL Home Care Rule"

Following is an excerpt:

On Monday, June 27, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals decision upholding the new U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) requirement that home care providers pay the federal minimum wage and overtime to home care ...

As anticipated in our posting on June 9, 2016, on June 21, 2016, the Washington, DC, Council unanimously passed on second reading the Fair Shot Minimum Wage Amendment Act of 2016, without substantive amendment. As discussed in our prior posting, this bill increases the District of Columbia minimum wage – already set to increase to $11.50 on July 1, 2016 – by additional annual increments until it reaches $15.00 on July 1, 2020. It also increases the tipped minimum wage in annual increments starting July 1, 2017 from the existing $2.77 to $5.00 on July 1, 2020. Both rates will increase in ...

[caption id="attachment_2651" align="alignright" width="113"] Kevin Sullivan[/caption]

The cities of Santa Monica, Pasadena, and San Diego have each recently passed ordinances increasing the minimum wage effective July 1, 2016. And two of them have passed ordinances providing for paid sick leave beyond that required by California state law.

Santa Monica

The City of Santa Monica has passed a new ordinance providing for a city-wide minimum wage of $10.50 beginning July 1, 2016, $12.00 beginning July 1, 2017, and $13.25 beginning July 1, 2018, $14.25 beginning July 1, 2019 ...

Washington, D.C. is poised to join California and New York by raising its minimum wage to $15.00 per hour.

On June 7, 2016, the D.C. Council, with support of Mayor Muriel Bowser, unanimously passed on first reading the Fair Shot Minimum Wage Amendment Act of 2016 . The bill will continue to raise the District of Columbia minimum wage – currently $10.50, but previously set to increase to $11.50 on July 1, 2016 – in additional annual increments until it reaches $15.00 by July 1, 2020. Beginning on July 1, 2021, the minimum wage will increase further based on the increase in the Consumer ...