Wage and Hour Defense Blog

In Newman v. Advanced Technology Innovation Corp., the First Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that an employer's per diem expense reimbursements should have been included when calculating an employee's regular rate and overtime rate.

What should an employer do when a departing employee fails to cash his final paycheck?

by Michael D. Thompson

In Thompson v. Real Estate Mortgage Network, the Third Circuit addressed a variety of ways in which a plaintiff could pursue claims against entities that claimed they were not her employer.

The plaintiff was hired as a mortgage underwriter by defendant Security Atlantic Mortgage Company (“SAMC”).  Allegedly in response to an investigation being conducted into SAMC 's mortgage practices, the plaintiff and others were directed to complete job applications for Real Estate Mortgage Network ("REMN"), a “sister company” of SAMC.  The plaintiff completed ...

 By Michael Kun

At virtually every point in time, we have thought of ourselves as being technologically advanced. 

Older readers of this blog will recall the first time they ever saw a calculator.  It was the size of a paperback novel, it cost more than $100, and it was spectacular.  It was unfathomable that anyone would ever design anything more advanced.  Now, you can get a calculator at the checkout stand of your local supermarket for about $2.  And you will probably raise a few eyebrows if you buy one, if only because most people have no need for calculators.  They are built right into most laptop ...

 By Michael Kun

              You run a supermarket.  You contract with a janitorial company to come in every night to clean the aisles after you close.

               You run an ad agency.  You retain a contractor to handle your mailroom.

               You run a law firm.  You bring in a company to update the books in your law library.

               You run a hotel.  You contract with a van service to shuttle your guests to and from the airport. 

               Whatever business you are in, you are bound to enter into contracts with vendors to provide a variety of services. 

               And, except where they subcontract that work out, each of those vendors uses its employees to fulfill ...

After-hours electronic access to the workplace is an increasingly prevalent basis for "off the clock" wage-hour litigation.

A CEO's "operational control" over stores leads to individual liability under the FLSA.

By Michael Kun

We have written several times in this blog about California’s unusual – and unusually vague – “suitable seating” law, which requires some employers to provide some employees with suitable seating if the nature of their work reasonably permits it.  The previously obscure law has become the subject of numerous class actions in California.  And parties and the courts have struggled to interpret a vague law that has little legislative history and even less interpretive case law.

As we wrote most recently in January, the Ninth Circuit essentially threw up its hands ...

'white House' overtime threshold exempt

The President has instructed the Secretary of Labor to "update" and "simplify" the FLSA's white collar exemptions. A major target of the proposed revisions is the current $455-per-week salary threshold for the executive, administrative and professional exemptions.