A recent United States Supreme Court decision provided two reminders for employers utilizing a day-rate compensation scheme. First, employers must pay their day-rate employees overtime or risk potential liability under the FLSA. Second, employers cannot shield themselves from FLSA overtime liability by directing the Court to only their annualized compensation of employees or their job
Fifth Circuit Holds Nonemployee Lacks Claim but Employee Can Recover Emotional Distress Damages in FLSA Retaliation Suit
The Fifth Circuit recently held that a plaintiff-employee in an FLSA retaliation claim can recover damages for emotional distress but that the statute does not provide a retaliation cause of action for a nonemployee spouse. In Pineda v. JTCH Apartments, LLC, an employee of the apartment complex who did maintenance work around the property
Use the New Overtime Rules to Correct Misclassified Workers
This week the DOL announced changes to the white collar overtime exemptions that take effect December 1, 2016. Every employment lawyer with a newsletter, blog or soapbox has written some summary of the new regulations. And while the regulations only effect the executive, administrative, professional and high compensated exemptions, Daniel Schwartz, a Connecticut employment
Don’t Forget to Consider Whether Year-End Bonuses Trigger Overtime Adjustments
As we get to the end of the year, management committees and corporate boards are in the process of approving year-end bonuses for employees. A frequently overlooked wage and hour mistake is failing to include non-discretionary bonuses in the regular rate of pay for non-exempt employees.
In calculating the regular rate of pay on which
Fifth Circuit Confirms Use of Fluctuating Workweek Method of Overtime Calculation in Misclassification Case
In settlement negotiations and trial of FLSA overtime misclassification cases, there is usually a disagreement between the parties as to how the unpaid overtime should be calculated. Attorneys representing employees typically want overtime calculated using a 1.5 times the regular rate of pay for each overtime hour that was worked. Attorneys representing companies typically want to utilize
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
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
Could FLSA Reform Create Job Growth?
I almost never read the letters to the editor in my local newspaper because, well . . . opinion are like . . . noses; everyone has one. However, last week I “stumbled” on a letter that was thought provoking in this period of high unemployment and borderline recession.
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
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