FLSA - Industries and Occupations

Last week, our firm hosted a webinar on recent developments in federal wage and hour law compliance as part of Nexsen Pruet’s Employment Law Certificate Series. The topic proved to be very timely as the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has been busy over the past few weeks.

Executive Summary: On Monday, October 7, 2019, the Department of Labor (DOL) proposed a new 80/20 rule and tip pooling regulation. First, the proposed regulation, if finalized, will permit employers to take a tip credit regardless of the amount of non-tip generating work (such as cleaning tables or

The Department of Labor (DOL) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on October 8, 2019, to eliminate the “20% Rule,” or “80/20 Rule,” under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

Over a year after Congress amended the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to clarify tip ownership questions, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) finally published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on October 8, 2019, with proposed changes to its current regulations on handling tips under its minimum wage

Last November, the United States Department of Labor (USDOL) issued Opinion Letter FLSA2018-27, rescinding the so-called “80/20” Tip Credit Rule, a provision that during the last decade had spawned a cottage industry of “80/20” cases. These cases sought to dissect the duties of a server between thos

The Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the Department of Labor (DOL) has reissued a 2009 opinion letter, effectively withdrawing enforcement guidance that made the tip credit under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) unavailable for tipped employees who spend more than 20% of their time performing alle

On November 8, 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) reissued and adopted a nearly decade-old opinion letter to clarify how employers must pay tipped employees who perform dual jobs.

The Department of Labor (“DOL”) today rescinded its prior guidance that made the tip credit unavailable to tipped employees who spend more than 20% of their time performing allegedly non-tip generating duties.

Executive Summary: On September 18, 2018, a year after a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of Marsh v. J. Alexander’s LLC, 869 F.3d 1108, a larger en banc panel of the court has overturned the previous decision, perpetuating uncertai

Many years ago, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued guidance known as the "20% Rule" or "80/20 Rule," which provides that, where tipped employees spend in excess of 20% of their workweek on non-tip-earning tasks, no tip credit may be taken for the time spent in such duties. The 20% Rule has be

The U.S. Supreme Court recently gave relief to automotive, tractor, and aircraft dealerships, clarifying that service advisors are – like salesmen, partsmen, and mechanics – exempt from payment of overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

The Restaurant Law Center, a public policy affiliate of the National Restaurant Association, has filed suit against the Department of Labor and its Wage and Hour Division, seeking to declare unlawful the DOL’s 2012 revision to its Field Operations Handbook, purporting to establish, through sub-regul

In the past year, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has made several announcements concerning the evolution of the tip pooling rules. These have focused on employees who had been banned from inclusion in a tip pooling arrangement due to the nature of their work, even if they earned the federal mini

As reported last week, on March 23rd, President Trump signed into law a massive spending bill that, among other things, amended the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to clarify that a manager or supervisor may not keep his employees’ tips. The amendment, however, did not define the term “manager” or “

On March 27, 2018, President Donald Trump signed into law Congress’s $1.3 trillion, 2,232-page omnibus budget bill, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018. Notably, on page 2,025, Congress amended the Fair Labor Standards Act by addressing rules affecting tipped employees and tip ownership, and p

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires employers to pay overtime compensation to covered employees, but exempts from overtime numerous categories of workers. Traditionally, these exemptions have been construed narrowly against the employer asserting them. Not anymore.

On April 2, 2018, in Encino Motorcars, LLC v. Hector Navarro, et al., the U.S. Supreme Court held that automobile dealership “service advisors” are exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime-pay requirement under 29 U.S.C. § 207(a), which requires that an employer pay overtime to cover

After years of litigation, including two trips to the U.S. Supreme Court, on whether service advisors who work in an automobile dealership are exempt from overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Court finally has held, in a 5-4 decision, that service advisors are exempt from overtime

Today, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Encino Motorcars, LLC v. Navarro, holding by a 5-4 vote that service advisors employed by a car dealership are exempt from overtime under the FLSA.

Executive Summary: On April 2, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Encino Motorcars, LLC v. Navarro that service advisors at automotive dealerships are exempt from overtime. The exemption at issue involves “any salesman, partsman or mechanic primarily engaged in selling or servicing automobile