Yesterday the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed, a judgment for an employer who was sued by its employees for travel time that the employer did not include as working time. Its a complicated set of facts and you can read Griffen v. S&B Engineers and Constructors, Ltd. here if you’re interested. While most employers don’t have travel time issues
Wage & Hour
A Broken Clock is Right Twice Per Day: Supreme Court of Texas Holds Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act Does Not Apply to Claims under State Law
I wrote back in April 2010 that I thought the Houston Court of Appeals decision in Prarie View A&M v. Chatha applying the federal Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (“Ledbetter Act”) to claims arising under the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act (TCHRA) was wrongly decided. Last month the Supreme Court of Texas agreed…
Finally, Private Litigants Can Settle Bona Fide FLSA Disputes Without DOL or Court Supervision!
Some of you may be surprised to learn that conventional wisdom was that claims arising under the Fair Labor Standards Act (the federal law requiring the payment of minimum wage and overtime to most employees) cannot be released or waived without court or Department of Labor supervision. I certainly thought that until several years ago when I had …
Paying Texas Employees Using Debit Cards
Some employers have experimented using debit card payroll systems to decrease their payroll processing and administration costs. Frequently, Texas employers ask whether they can pay their Texas employees using debit cards. The answer is "yes" but only with the employee consent.
Texas law provides that employees must be paid in one of four forms:
- In U.S. currency;
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Fifth Circuit Holds 24 Hour Fitness Arbitration Agreement Illusory and Unenforcable
24 Hour Fitness operates health clubs and fitness facilities across the country. As part of its operations, 24 Hour Fitness employs sales representatives. As a condition of employment, employees are required to enter into arbitration agreements to arbitrate their employment disputes with their employer. FLSA claims (i.e., overtime and minimum wage claims) are covered within the scope of the…
End-of-Year Bonuses, the Regular Rate of Pay and Overtime
With many employers considering whether and when to pay end-of-year or holiday bonuses, I thought it was a good time to review the rules for when bonuses or other compensation must be included in the regular rate of pay for purposes of paying overtime. This is one issue that still trips up Texas employers.
Nonexempt employees are entitled to overtime…
IRS Provides Semi-Safe Harbor to Fix Independent Contractor Misclassification Problems
I am always skeptical when I hear a deal that sounds too good to be true. Because of my healthy skepticism, I hope that I am unlikely to be scammed by the phishing e-mail advising me a foreign distant relative has left me a lot of money and I only need to send a few thousand dollars to an off-shore bank…
Court Enters Judgment Against Police Officers on Overtime Suit Against City
In a recent case out of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, a federal judge entered summary judgment for the City of Fort Worth in an FLSA overtime case filed by four former police officers.
In Clark v. City of Fort Worth, Texas, four retired City of Fort Worth police officers filed a FLSA putative collective action seeking to…
Congress Hears Employer Suggestions on Modernizing the FLSA
Yesterday, the Congressional Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Workforce Protections heard suggestions on how the FLSA can and should be modernized to better reflect the realities of the 21st Century Workforce. The following summarizes the suggestions made by business and employer representatives on how the FLSA should be modernized:
- Update the computer professional exemption by
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Congressional Subcommittee to Examine the Effect of the FLSA and the Modern Workforce
This morning the Education and the Workforce Committee Subcommittee on Workforce Protections will examine whether the FLSA is outdated in today’s modern workforce. The hearing is entitled “The Fair Labor Standards Act: Is It Meeting the Needs of the Twenty-First Century Workplace?”
According to the Subcommittee’s media advisory:
Despite the broad impact of the
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