Articles Discussing General Topics Under The FLSA.

Since 1939, regulations interpreting the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) have recognized that two or more “employers” can be jointly and severally liable for a single employee’s hours worked under the Act. However, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has not meaningfully updated its joint employer regulation in more than 60 years. That soon may change. On April 1, the DOL issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to update its interpretation of the standard for establishing joint-employer liability under the FLSA.

A prime or general contractor may be held jointly and severally liable for any violations, including wage and hour violations, by its subcontractors if the contractor is found to be a joint employer with the subcontractor under applicable federal or state law.

Healthcare employers can expect the rise of class action lawsuits to continue, as 2019 has seen a steady influx of class actions against healthcare employers under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and various state wage-and-hour counterparts.

First introduced in Congress in 1997, and several times since, the Paycheck Fairness Act is again under consideration by Congress (S. 270/H.R. 7).

2019 marks the start of Wage Watch’s third year of publication, which we will celebrate the only way we (sadly) know how: by recapping federal, state, and local developments concerning the minimum wage, tips, and overtime.

The law regulating the payment of wages and work hours is a vibrant area: the “fight for $15.00”; battles over who can receive tips (and whether the tip credit should be eliminated entirely); whether workers should be given additional pay when employers cancel shifts and fail to provide “predictive schedules”; and what should happen to that pesky overtime rule. These are just some of the hot button issues addressed in 2018. As 2019 begins, we take a look back at notable wage and hour developments on the federal and state level in 2018.

As the result of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD), a hospital in Arizona was recently ordered to comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requirement that employers must provide nursing mothers adequate time and space to express breast milk. The WHD announced on December 11 that it entered into a compliance agreement with Yuma Regional Medical Center requiring the employer to provide training to all supervisors, and to provide all employees returning from maternity leave with information about their right to express milk in the workplace. The investigation revealed that the hospital previously denied requests for breaks from nursing employees and failed to provide a private location in which to express breast milk in violation of the FLSA.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced that it has issued four new opinion letters. DOL opinion letters are designed to interpret and provide clarity to federal labor laws, and these four new letters target issues under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

If you procrastinated on finding a costume for the office Halloween party, never fear—just put “hipster” or “zombie” before any person, profession, or thing, and you’re set. After indulging in too much sugar and embarrassing group photos, relax and unwind with our always cool and very much alive update on minimum wage, tip, and overtime developments.

The past month was full of minimum wage, tip, and overtime activity: amendments; annual rate adjustments; ballot measure battles; legal challenges; and new bills. It was a September to remember.

With Hurricane Florence threatening the Carolinas, this is a good time for employers to review their inclement weather policies and to make sure they properly compensate employees who miss work because of adverse weather.

In furtherance of a practice reinstituted earlier this year, on August 28, 2018 the DOL’s Wage Hour Division (WHD) issued four new opinion letters covering FLSA topics. The current administration began that practice when, in January of this year, it reinstated seventeen opinion letters originally issued during the George W. Bush administration but subsequently withdrawn during the Obama administration. The WHD then issued three new letters in April, prior to last week’s issuance. “Opinion letters help provide greater clarity for American job creators and employees,” commented Acting Wage and Hour Division Administrator Bryan Jarrett, and “show the ongoing efforts of the Department to provide the tools employers need to comply with the law and protect workers.”

In most lawsuits filed under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), an employer’s ability to recover any attorney’s fees under the prevailing standard – that a plaintiff filed the case in “bad faith, vexatiously or wantonly” – is much too difficult to satisfy. A recent decision from the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, however, provides an avenue for recovery of such fees – at least in part. Aralar v. Scott-McRae Automotive Group, LLLP, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 64045 (M.D. Fla. Apr. 17, 2018).

Never mind the Ides of March, for employers with tipped employees: beware the federal budget process. Presumably no one’s March Madness bracket had federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) amendments going to, let alone winning, D.C.’s “big dance.” How this Cinderella story plays out remains to be seen, so, during federal legislative half-time, we’ll take a quick look at the scores from other minimum wage, tips, and overtime games around the country.

Welcome to the inaugural issue of FordHarrison’s newest publication, The Timekeeper – A Quarterly Guide to Developments in Wage/Hour Law, brought to you by the Wage/Hour Practice Group. Each quarter, FordHarrison’s Wage/Hour Practice Group members will provide subscribers with updates on the DOL, the latest in case law, and insight into wage and hour developments.