I wanted to give our readers a quick update on the status of mortgage loan officers. In Mortgage Bankers Ass’n v. Solis, a federal district court in Washington D.C. recently rejected a challenge to the March 2010 DOL administrator’s interpretation that mortgage loan officers do not generally meet the administrative exemption under the FLSA. As previously mentioned, on March 24, 2010, the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) announced it was no longer issuing opinion letters in response to specific questions but would issue administrative interpretations containing general interpretations of the law and regulations.
Articles Discussing Wage And Hour Issues In Particular Industries.
Mario Batali Restaurants Settle Tip Pool Lawsuit For $5.25 Million
The latest news in celebrity chef wage and hour litigation is that eight New York restaurants owned by Mario Batali have agreed to settle $5.25 million to settle a class action lawsuit alleging that they illegally withheld tips from hourly service workers.
Justices Deny Review of Applebee’s Tip Credit Ruling
In May, my partner Staci reported on a ruling against Applebee’s by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, holding that tipped employees who spent more than 20 percent of their working time on nontipped activities like cleaning restrooms were entitled to the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. Applebee’s asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the ruling, arguing that the Eighth Circuit incorrectly deferred to the U.S. Department of Labor’s “informal interpretation” of its FLSA regulations in its 1988 Field Operations Handbook, and that as a result it applied an “utterly unworkable standard that has no basis in the text or purpose of the FLSA and that will impose crushing administrative and financial burdens on restaurants and other employers of tipped employees.” Last week, the Supreme Court turned down Applebee’s petition, leaving the Court of Appeals’ ruling intact.
Restaurant Association Sues to Block Tip Credit Rules
On April 5, 2011, the U.S. Department of Labor published new final regulations that among other things require employers to give new detailed notices to tipped employees in order to credit tips toward the minimum wage. The new regulations took effect on June 5, 2011. Yesterday, June 16, 2011, the National Restaurant Association, the Council of State Restaurant Associations and the National Federation of Independent Businesses filed a lawsuit against the DOLseeking to block enforcement of the new rules. National Restaurant Association v Solis (PDF).