By: Michael Kun
This morning, the California Supreme Court has just issued its long-awaited decision in the Brinker case regarding meal and period requirements. It is largely, but not entirely, a victory for employers. A copy of the decision is here.
A few highlights of the decision:
On rest periods, the Court confirmed the certification of a rest period class because Brinker’s written policy arguably did not comply with the law as to the second rest period in a day. In so doing, it clarified when employees are entitled to rest periods:
· Employees are entitled to 10 minutes’ rest for ...
By Douglas Weiner and Meg Thering
In one of the many “wrinkles” in Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) litigation, settlements of wage and hour disputes between an employer and its employees are only enforceable if supervised by the U.S. Department of Labor or approved by a court. Courts will approve settlements if they are “fair”; however, as demonstrated in a recent decision arising out of New Jersey - Brumley v. Camin Cargo Control - courts may need to be reminded that employers also have rights and legitimate interests. The Brumley Court took what was a bargained-for ...
Wage garnishment can pose a number of potential problems for hospitality businesses. This is particularly true where the employee whose pay is subject to garnishment receives tips.
Garnishment is a legal procedure in which an employee’s earnings must be withheld by an employer for the payment of a debt under a court order. When faced with a garnishment order involving a tipped employee, the employer must determine whether all or part of the employee’s tips must be included in the amounts withheld under the garnishment order. This question turns on ...
Wage and hour investigations and class action lawsuits continue to be a potentially serious problem for many employers, resulting in an abundance of new cases filed and many large settlements procured. In addition, in September 2011, under the guidance of the Obama Administration, the Department of Labor and IRS announced an effort to coordinate with each other to address misclassification of employees as independent contractors, which is resulting in additional investigations, fines, and/or legal liability levied on an employer.
By Amy Traub and Desiree Busching
Like the fashions in the magazines on which they work and the blockbuster movies for which they assist in production, unpaid interns are becoming one of the newest, hottest trends— the new “it” in class action litigation. As we previously advised, there has been an increased focus on unpaid interns in the legal arena, as evidenced by complaints filed by former unpaid interns in September 2011 against Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc. and in February 2012 against Hearst Corporation. In those lawsuits, unpaid interns working on the hit ...
Wage Hour laws and regulations are complex, non-intuitive, and constantly changing. Mistakes in wage and salary administration have led to class actions resulting in six and seven figure recoveries against the most sophisticated employers - banks and major industrial giants as well as smaller employers without in-house legal and high level Human Resources officials. Peter M. Panken, Lauri Rasnick and Douglas Weiner in our New York Office have recently authored an article in conjunction with a major national Continuing Legal Education program in Washington entitled: “ ...
By: Kara M. Maciel and Casey Cosentino
We were recently asked by a client to provide guidance on the wage and hour issues associated with company-provided on-line training programs for non-exempt employees. Questions were raised as to when the training is "voluntary" and whether the time must be compensated if the training is completed at home using a personal computer. The answer stems from federal wage and hour law, which provides that such time is likely compensable for non-exempt employees.
The Fair Labor Standards Act requires employers to ...
By Amy Traub and Desiree Busching
On February 1, 2012, a former intern of the Hearst Corporations’ Harper’s Bazaar filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of herself and others similarly situated. The lawsuit alleges that the company violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and applicable state laws by failing to pay minimum wage and overtime to interns. The use of unpaid interns is a widespread practice, especially in the retail, publication, and real estate industries, as well as in Hollywood. In fact, in September 2011, a similar lawsuit was filed against Fox ...
By John F. Fullerton, III, Douglas Weiner, and Meg Thering
The plague of lawsuits for unpaid overtime compensation by employees who claim that they were misclassified by their current or former employer as “exempt” from overtime under the “administrative” exemption of the Fair Labor Standards Act shows no signs of receding. These lawsuits continue to present challenges to employers, not just in terms of the burdens and costs of defending the cases, but in the uncertainty of the potential financial exposure.
Read the full article online.
By Michael Kun and Aaron Olsen
Plaintiffs seeking to bring state law wage-hour class actions against employers in the trucking industry have run into a significant road block in California. For the second time in a year, a United States District Court has held that claims based on California’s meal and rest period laws are preempted by federal law.
In Esquivel et al. v. Performance Food Group Inc., the plaintiffs claimed the defendant scheduled their delivery routes such that the plaintiffs were unable to take duty-free meal periods. The defendant argued that the Federal Aviation ...
Blog Editors
Recent Updates
- Federal Appeals Court Vacates Department of Labor’s “80/20/30 Rule” Regarding Tipped Employees
- Time Is Money: A Quick Wage-Hour Tip on … Regular Rate Exclusions
- Michigan’s Supreme Court Has Spoken: Expanded Paid Sick Leave, Increased Minimum Wage and Phased Out Tip Credits
- California Supreme Court Concludes That PAGA Plaintiffs Lack Standing to Intervene in Other PAGA Lawsuits
- Time Is Money: A Quick Wage-Hour Tip on … Offering a Compliant Payroll Debit Card Option to Employees