There is a comedian by the name of Jeff Foxworthy who has been enormously popular for the past two decades or so.
Perhaps you are familiar with him. (And if you are, you probably thought that you stumbled upon the wrong blog just now.)
Remarkably, Mr. Foxworthy’s name comes up frequently when talking about whether workers have been properly classified as independent contractors. Not because there is anything funny about that issue; there isn’t. And not because Mr. Foxworthy was misclassified as an independent contractor. Instead, his name pops up because Mr. Foxworthy has ...
On September 13, 2023, the United States Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD) and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) entered a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to work together to enforce federal laws and regulations that advance equal employment opportunity and fair pay. The MOU outlines procedures for the agencies to increase their coordination in information sharing, joint investigations, trainings, and outreach efforts.
I. Information Sharing
The MOU allows the agencies to consolidate and share information on issues ...
An amended version of AB 1228 was passed in the California Legislature on September 14, 2023, [1] which would raise minimum wages for fast food workers and water down the authority of the new Fast Food Council that was created in a bill passed last year. AB 1228, originally introduced on February 16, 2023, was revised on September 11, 2023 after negotiations occurred between labor unions and the fast food industry. It significantly modifies provisions from the Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act (FAST Recovery Act) passed last year, which does not go into effect ...
An amended version of SB 525 was passed in the California Legislature on September 14, 2023, [1] which would raise minimum wages for health care workers across the state, starting June 1, 2024. SB 525 is now awaiting signature or veto from California Governor Gavin Newsom, who has until October 14, 2023 to sign or veto this bill.
CHANGES IN MINIMUM WAGES:
SB 525 sets forth different tiers of minimum wage increases that vary based on the following:
- Large health systems and dialysis clinics:[2]
- Minimum wage for covered health care employees shall be:
- From June 1, 2024, to May 31, 2025 ...
- Minimum wage for covered health care employees shall be:
On August 16, 2023, a unanimous three-judge panel of the Third Circuit vacated and remanded a decision from the Middle District of Pennsylvania ruling that the time spent by oil-rig workers changing in and out of their protective gear was not compensable.
Plaintiffs Rodney Tyger, Shawn Wadsworth brought a Fair Labor Standards Act collective action against Defendants Precision Drilling Corp., Precision Drilling Oilfield Services, Inc., and Precision Drilling Company, LP (“Precision”), an oil rig, for failing to pay them for pre-shift donning and post-shift doffing of ...
On August 30, 2023, in one of the U.S. Department of Labor’s most highly anticipated rulemakings of the year, the Wage and Hour Division announced the details of its forthcoming Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding the salary requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime exemption for executive, administrative, and professional employees. In short, the Department has elected to go big, with the soon-to-be-published draft rule containing the following key elements:
- Increasing the minimum salary for the basic executive, administrative, and professional ...
Earlier this year, on February 6, 2023, the New Jersey Governor signed the Temporary Workers’ Bill of Rights into law.
On August 21, 2023, the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development (NJDOL) Division of Wage and Hour and Contract Compliance published Proposed Regulations to govern the new law. The Department will be accepting public comments regarding the Law until October 20, 2023. While the Bill of Rights has wide-sweeping consequences for temporary laborers and third-party clients, it is also notable for making New Jersey the first state to require equal ...
On August 4, 2023, the Governor of Illinois signed HB 2862 into law, amending the Illinois Day and Temporary Labor Services Act (DTLS).
Under the amendments, temporary labor service agencies must pay temporary workers who are assigned to a third-party client for more than 90 days wages and benefits (or the cash value of such benefits) equal to the lowest-paid comparable direct-hire employee at the third-party client.
A direct-hire comparator means an individual with equal seniority status to the temporary worker who performs the “same or substantially similar” role under ...
The “regular rate of pay,” an often-misunderstood legal term of art, can be a thorn in the side of employers when calculating how to pay non-exempt hourly employees. These employees must be paid an overtime rate of at least one and a half times their regular rate of pay. Issues can arise when, in addition to their hourly wages, non-exempt hourly employees receive compensation that can change their regular rate of pay, and thus their overtime rate of pay, on a weekly basis. In some states, such as California, the regular rate of pay is also used when paying meal and rest break premiums ...
Psychologist Abraham Maslow once observed, “If the only tool you have is a hammer, it is tempting to treat everything as if it were a nail.”[1] That sums up the state of commission litigation under the Massachusetts Wage Act: mandatory treble damages, attorneys’ fees, and the prospect that a court might strike a term of an agreed-upon commission plan as an unenforceable “special contract” that deprives an employee of earned wages has led to an uptick in the number of commission claims. Given these potential consequences, employees sometimes try to fit a square peg into a ...
Blog Editors
Recent Updates
- Employers in California: Don’t Forget That “Joint Employers” Are Not Vicariously Liable for Each Other’s Conduct
- Many State and Local Minimum Wages Increased on January 1, 2025
- California Court of Appeal Holds That Every PAGA Action Necessarily Includes an Individual PAGA Claim – and Plaintiffs With Arbitration Agreements Must Arbitrate Their Individual Claims First
- Time Is Money: A Quick Wage-Hour Tip on … California Meal and Rest Period Requirements, Revisited
- California Minimum Wage Will Still Increase Even Though Voters Rejected a Minimum-Wage Hike