In a monumental shift for state-court litigators and litigants, the Florida Supreme Court recently decided to forego the established state law standard for summary judgment in favor of adopting the more lenient, and more defense-friendly, federal standard articulated by the United States Supreme Court in the trilogy of cases of Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317 (1986), Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242 (1986), and Matsushita Electrical Industrial Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574 (1986). Florida now joins 38 other states in adopting the federal standard.
Articles Discussing General Topics Under The FLSA.
Florida Legislature Imposes High Standard for Claims Against Businesses Based on Damages from COVID-19
On March 29, 2021, Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law Florida Statute 768.38, intended to protect businesses, governmental entities, schools and other persons and entities from COVID-19 lawsuits if they made a good-faith effort to follow guidelines to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
DOL Proposes to Delay and Revise Portions of Final Rule on Handling Tips and Eliminating the 80/20 Rule
The U.S.
DOL Adopts Portions of Tipped Regulations Final Rule, Proposes Further Delay of Other Portions
While deciding to make effective some portions of the Tipped Regulations Final Rule published in the final weeks of the former administration, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has proposed further delay and consideration of the most controversial provisions of the Rule, including the elimination of the “80/20 Rule” that
A Few Out-of-State Telephone Calls Per Week May Be Sufficient to Establish FLSA Coverage, 11th Circuit Holds
An administrative assistant, who regularly made three to five telephone calls out of state per week to her employer’s clients and vendors, may have sufficiently engaged in interstate commerce to establish “individual coverage” under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit concluded.
5th Circuit Says No to FLSA Misclassification Claim
Southeast Employment Law Letter, Vol. 2, No. 3
When Is ‘No Fee’ a Reasonable Fee? 11th Circuit’s Guidance on Reasonableness in FLSA Attorneys’ Fees Cases
On February 1, 2021, in an unpublished opinion resolving a Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) attorney’s fees dispute, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, in Batista v. South Florida Womans Health Associates, Inc., struck another blow against unreasonable plaintiffs’ counsel seeking “reasonable” fees.
Vaccine Volunteers: Is “Thank You” Sufficient Compensation?
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires employers to pay nonexempt employees at least minimum wage for all hours worked up to 40 hours in a workweek and time and one-half for all hours worked over 40 hours in the same workweek. An exception to this rule exists for volunteers,
Littler Lightbulb: Wage and Hour Developments During the First Month of the Biden Administration
It has been just one month since the inauguration of Joseph Biden as the 46th president of the United States, and he has been moving quickly to change the wage and hour landscape. This Lightbulb illuminates some of the more important developments affecting wage and hour law taken during
9th Circuit Per Diem Case
If you pay employees a “flat” or automatic amount for reimbursement of their expenses, such as cell phone and internet charges, this new 9th Circuit case is important: https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2021/02/08/19-55784.pdf.
A Reminder for Employers About W-2 Phishing Scams
For the past several years, thousands of businesses have been hit with phishing scams during tax season. Through these social engineering scams, hackers obtain employee Forms W-2 for filing fraudulent tax returns seeking large refunds. These phishing emails are typically sent as clients begin the process of issuing W-2s to
Employers Will No Longer Get PAID
On January 29, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced that it was abandoning the Payroll Audit Independent Determination (PAID) program, effective immediately. PAID was introduced in 2018 as a self-audit program, designed to allow an employer who uncovered potential Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) wage violations to voluntarily
Prevailing Wage Rule Delayed 60 Days
According to a draft scheduled for publication in the Federal Register on February 1, 2021, the Biden administration plans to delay the effective date of the Strengthening Wage Protections for the Temporary and Permanent Employment of Certain Aliens in the United States rule (Prevailing Wage Rule) for 60 days while
Case-by-Case Analysis for the Creative Professional Exemption Applies to All Journalists, Regardless of Employer Size
On January 19, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released an opinion letter analyzing the application of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) creative professional exemption to journalists.
2020 Wage & Hour Developments: A Year in Review
The laws governing wages and hours of work affect nearly everyone—and have a significant affect on class and collective actions. How employees are paid, whether as hourly non-exempt, salaried-exempt, tipped, or commissioned sales workers, and how much they are paid, are questions of deep interest to employees and employers alike.
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