On November 16, 2022, the Department of Labor announced that it had recovered $1.2 million in back wages from four different home health care agencies on behalf of 599 home healthcare workers. One of the responsible employers, Guardian Angels Care Services, Inc., owed $160,477 in overtime back wages for misclassifying its employees as independent
One of the biggest criticisms I have of the FLSA is that it provides no safe harbor or protection for an employer, who having realized it made a wage and hour mistake, to voluntarily self-report and correct its mistake. Instead, it can encourage employers who learn of a potential FLSA violation that has not otherwise been discovered to continue its current practice hoping that the violation will not be discovered. This week the U.S. Department of Labor announced its Payroll Audit Independent Determination (PAID) program that takes a step in providing employers with an incentive to voluntarily identify and self-correct wage and hour violations. The stated purpose of the program is to
Continue Reading Department of Labor Rolls Out Pilot Program for Employers to Correct Inadvertent Wage and Hour Violations
There has been an explosion of wage and hour collective actions failed against Texas employers in the last five years. This has been particularly prevalent in the oil field services sector. If you are a Texas employer, and using any of 12 pay practices below, you should consult with an employment lawyer to ensure you
It’s a rare day with the U.S. Department of Labor is assessed attorney’s fees against it for bringing a suit against an employer in bad faith. However, in Gate Guard v. Secretary of Labor, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered that a trial court award attorney’s fees to a Texas employer in a
President Obama has announced that a soon to be released proposed rule from the U.S. Department of Labor will include an increase in the minimum salary necessary for an employee to qualify as an exempt employee. Under the proposal announced by @POTUS today, by 2016, employers will have to pay exempt employees a minimum or
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
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
In a non-employment case of significant importance to employers and employment lawyers, the U.S. Supreme Court held today that imposing class arbitration on parties who have not agreed to class arbitration is inconsistent with the Federal Arbitration Act and is therefore not permitted. This case arose out of an MDL antitrust case alleging that certain competitors were engaged in
As I wrote yesterday, the Wage & Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor has ceased issuing detailed, fact-specific opinion letters. In the first of the Administrative Interpretations the Division will issue in lieu of opinion letters, the Division has concluded that most mortgage loan officers will not qualify for the administrative exemption to the
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage & Hour Division announced it will no longer issue fact-specific definitive opinion letters in response to questions submitted by individuals and organizations. According to the Division, its opinion letters provide only limited guidance to broad categories of employers and employees where slight factual differences in the facts assumed in the letter could result