Wage and Hour Defense Blog

As readers of this blog know, EBG’s free wage-hour app is now available for download on Apple, Android, and Blackberry devices. The app puts federal wage-hour laws and those of many states at users’ fingertips.

Now, the app also includes 7 checklists that employers should find helpful.

Each of the following checklists can be accessed through the “Downloads” icon on the app, then downloaded in seconds:

• Applying the Administrative Exemption
• Applying the Computer Employee Exemption
• Applying the Executive Exemption
• Applying the Highly Compensated Employee Exemption

In a great many wage-hour complaints alleging unpaid overtime or failure to pay minimum wage, plaintiffs will bring suit without identifying any specific instances in which the plaintiffs ever worked unpaid overtime or worked for a period of time without being paid at least the minimum wage.  The absence of such basic facts plagues many class action and collective action complaints, in particular.  The Ninth Circuit’s recent opinion in Landers v Quality Communications rejects the notion that plaintiffs can survive a motion to dismiss by relying on cookie-cutter allegations.  ...

In Holaway v. Stratasys, Inc., the plaintiff was employed as a field service engineer and classified as exempt from the FLSA’s overtime requirements.  Based on that classification, the plaintiff’s employer did not keep records of his hours worked.

After being discharged, the plaintiff filed lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota claiming he was non-exempt, seeking overtime wages and alleging that he worked sixty hours per week every week of his employment.  The District Court concluded that the plaintiff failed to produce sufficient evidence to show he ...

By Jill Barbarino

On October 28 a three-member majority of the National Labor Relations Board in Murphy Oil revisited and reaffirmed its position that employers violate the National Labor Relations Act (the “Act”) by requiring employees covered by the Act (virtually allnonsupervisory and non-managerial employees of most private sector employees, whether unionized or not) to waive, as a condition of their employment, participation in class or collective actions.

As previously reported in an Act Now Advisory, in 2012 the NLRB held in D.R. Horton that the home builder ...

As if California employers were not already besieged with wage-hour class actions and agency complaints, the state’s controller has now decided to get in on the action.

As The Los Angeles Times reported last week, Controller John Chiang has initiated a new program he calls “Operation Pay-Up” to recover unpaid wages.  The article may be found here. 

In short, the Controller is using California’s Unclaimed Property Law to attempt to gain restitution of wages believed to be withheld from employees.  Any recovered wages that are unclaimed will be transferred to the state treasury ...

In August, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed into law HB 5622, amending the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act (IWPCA), which now recognizes for the first time payment of wages by payroll card. The law goes into effect on January 1, 2015. While the law provides a new option for Illinois employers, they must be careful to comply with the conditions under which payroll cards may be used.

Under the current Illinois law, employers are required to pay employees via check or direct deposit. The current law is silent as to whether payroll cards, which operate like debit cards, can be used to ...

David W. Garland, Chair of Epstein Becker Green’s Labor and Employment Steering Committee and a member of the firm’s Board of Directors, will moderate “It’s In The Bag – Summary of Bag Check Litigation And Strategies For Minimizing Risk” at the National Retail Federation Human Resources Executive Summit at the Hard Rock Hotel in Chicago, Illinois on October 15, 2014.

During this general session, retailers who are grappling with employee bag check litigation discuss what the industry can expect in litigation over employee compensation for time spent in bag checks to ...

As our readers know, for the purposes of certain blog entries, I have unilaterally declared that I am the Secretary of Labor.

Effective immediately:

1. The “computer professional” exemption applies to anyone with a salary of at least $800 per week whose primary duty requires “highly specialized knowledge of computers and software.”  The exemption now includes employees who provide help desk services, troubleshooting support, or who install hardware or software.
2. In regard to New York law, building owners who provide free apartments to their janitors can still count the value ...

by Michael Kun

We're very pleased to announce that a brand-new version of our free, first-of-its-kind app, the Wage & Hour Guide for Employers, is now available for Apple, Android, and BlackBerry devices. The new app takes advantage of a software-as-a-service programming platform developed by Panvista Mobile.

Our newest version of the app is not only available to users of a variety of devices, but it offers simpler, faster, and more useful ways for employers to locate wage and hour information at the touch of a fingertip.  As new issues are constantly emerging in this area, we’re ...

By: Michael D. Thompson

ESPN broadcaster Keith Olbermann recently held a mock press conference in which he pretended to be the new Commissioner of Baseball, and explained how he would improve the game in that role.  For example, World Series games would start early enough for kids to watch them, the designated hitter would be eliminated, and Vin Scully would call all World Series games.

I’d like to do something similar.  I am pleased to inform you that, for the rest of this blog entry, let’s assume that I am the new Secretary of Labor.

Effective immediately:

1. An employer’s liability to ...