Remember the 2021 Independent Contractor Rule? Well, forget it or at least most of it. Last week, the DOL published a new final rule for independent contractor status under the Fair Labor Standards Act (the New Rule). The New Rule rescinds the 2021 rule and provides guidance on how to analyze whether an individual should
Wage and Hour
Teaming Up? EEOC and DOL Announce Enhanced Enforcement Efforts
Last week, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the United States Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (DOL) issued a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that announced they are partnering for the purpose of information sharing and joint investigations. As you know, the EEOC investigates and enforces allegations of discrimination and retaliation under Title…
Makin’ New Davis-Bacon (Regs): DOL Issues Final Rule on Prevailing Wages
Recently the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a final rule that provides, among many other things (the rule is more than 700 pages long), (1) an update to the formula DOL uses to set “prevailing wages” under the Davis-Bacon Act and related regulations, (2) enforcement options for DOL to penalize employers for retaliation, and…
Are Your Employees Covered by a State Paid Family and Medical Leave Program? The CRS Can Tell You If They Are
Paid leave benefits are a hot topic these days. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) has issued an updated report on states that have Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) programs and how they work.
Federal FMLA and Unpaid Leave
We all know that the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requires employers with 50…
Sweet Summertime! PTO, Vacation and State Law
With the warmer months rolling in and travel rates skyrocketing, it’s likely that many of your employees are taking days away from the office. It may be time to give some attention to your paid time off (PTO) policies and to your state law on PTO. State law in this area is evolving, and it…
Legislators Continue to Crack Down on Confidentiality
Guaranteed confidentiality with regard to employee disputes may be becoming a thing of the past if the current tide of legislation continues. As we blogged about several weeks ago, Congress just banned arbitration agreements for sexual harassment claims. Even more stringent than that new federal legislation, Washington and California have both recently passed a “Silenced…
Everyone Loves a Good Deadline: Reporting Requirements for Early 2022
We hope your 2022 is off to a good start and you are all managing the COVID-19 pandemic challenges. For this post, we wanted to take a break from COVID-19-specific topics to remind you of some new year to dos. Specifically, EEO-1 and OSHA Injury and Illness Reporting data is due in the coming months,…
You Can’t Put the Trial Cart Before the Certification Horse in FLSA Hybrid Wage-and-Hour Case; Circuit Court Rejects Trial Court’s Approach of Holding Trial in Wage Case Before Deciding on Class
When a company faces a Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) collective action there are two main components to address: (1) whether it will be a collective action or class action versus an individual action and (2) a trial of the merits on whether the FLSA was actually violated. One federal district court decided No. 2…
New Way to Pay Day Rate: 5th Circuit Rules on FLSA Day Rate Overtime Exemption
Are you paying employees using a day rate under the FLSA? If so, you may want to read the Fifth Circuit’s recent ruling in the latest string of Helix Energy cases. According to the Fifth Circuit, companies who do business in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi that pay employees based on a day rate must now…
Silverware Rollers Unite! DOL Proposes New Rule on Use of Tip Credit for Non-tipped Work
As we discussed in April, the Biden administration halted the implementation of some of the Trump administration’s changes to the rules on taking a tip credit for non-tipped work. For those that never have had a server job, employers who have tipped employees (waitstaff, bartenders, etc.) have the option to pay those type of…