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
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.
We all know that the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requires employers with 50
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
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
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,
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
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
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
You may have missed it, but Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh perked up some ears last week when he discussed possibly raising the FLSA salary threshold for certain exempt employees. In testimony before a Congressional committee, Secretary Walsh stated that the current amount, $35,568, is “definitely” too low and hinted that his department may seek
Employers across the country are curious how the labor and employment world may change under President Biden’s administration. March saw Marty Walsh, former mayor of Boston, confirmed as the U.S. Secretary of Labor. What is his philosophy? The DOL postponed the effective date of a new Independent Contractor Rule. Will it ever go into effect?