Wage and Hour Defense Blog

Generally, the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) requires employers to compensate their non-exempt employees for all time that they are required or allowed to perform work, regardless of where and when the work is done.  However, an exception exists for small amounts of time that are otherwise compensable work time but challenging to record, otherwise known as the de minimis doctrine.  Of course, the million-dollar question is how much time is considered de minimis.  Unfortunately, there is no bright-line rule and the answer may differ under federal law and California law, or ...

By Jeffrey Ruzal

President Obama has spent much of his second term zealously pursuing an increase to the current $7.25 federal minimum hourly wage. While it is not clear whether a federal wage hike is in the offing, many states have recently taken measures to increase their own minimum wage rates. Effective January 1, 2014, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington have all increased their minimum wage rates. There are also five additional states, California, Delaware, Michigan ...

By Amy Traub and Desiree Busching

Just as designers must be cognizant of copycat fashions, employers must be cognizant of copycat lawsuits.  In February of this year, Xuedan “Diana” Wang filed a lawsuit against her former employer, Hearst Corporation, on behalf of herself and others similarly situated, alleging that the company violated federal and state wage and hour laws by failing to pay minimum wage and overtime to interns working for Harper’s Bazaar.  Wang had worked for Harper’s Bazaar during the fall of 2011.  Her lawsuit was filed in February 2012, only five months ...

By: Michael Thompson

The United States Supreme Court has ruled that pharmaceutical sales representatives (PSRs) are “outside salesmen” who are not entitled to overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The high court’s ruling was predicated on its finding that, in the pharmaceutical industry’s “unique regulatory environment,” the commitments obtained by PSRs equate to traditional sales. Furthermore, the Supreme Court rebuked the Department of Labor (DOL) for “unfairly surprising” the industry by filing amicus briefs arguing that PSRs were ...