Tag Archives: FLSA

The Department of Labor’s Latest Final Rule Publication Regulates Managers Who Receive Tips and Delineates Willful Violations of the FLSA

“Drip, drip, drip” is the best description of the Biden administration’s staggered attack on the 2020 Tip Final Rule through delays, withdrawals, amendments and notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM). The latest action by the Department of Labor (DOL) came last week, when the Wage and Hour Division published its final rule addressing managers who receive … Continue Reading

Breaking News? DOL Rescinds Independent Contractor Rule That Never Took Effect

By Todd Lebowitz on May 6, 2021 Posted in Independent Contractor

Remember when TV news was on at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. and that was it? Every once in a while, there would be a Breaking News! alert, and it was always something really important. They wouldn’t interrupt Diff’rent Strokes for just anything. (Bonus points if you remembered there was an apostrophe in the title … Continue Reading

Taking Tips? Department of Labor Announces Timing for Tipped Employee Final Rule Implementation

By Jacob A. Bruner, David Grant and Caroline M. Landt on March 26, 2021 Posted in DOL

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) this week announced the timing for implementation of its much-awaited Final Rule controlling which employees can participate in a mandatory tip pool and changes to the “80/20” rule. The Final Rule, which revises the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA) tip regulations and implements an earlier statutory amendment concerning the … Continue Reading

Snapshot or Long Exposure? Dep’t Of Labor Approves New IC Test … For Now

By Todd Lebowitz on January 6, 2021 Posted in Department of Labor, Independent Contractor, Wage and Hour

This octopus in New Zealand has been trained to take photos of visitors to the Sea Life Aquarium. That’s a pretty neat trick. I’m sure the visitors love it and will pay whatever exorbitant fee the aquarium charges to profit on the back of its cephalopod slave labor, but will the photos last? Do the … Continue Reading

Whaddaya Call It? DOL Proposes New Independent Contractor Test

By Todd Lebowitz on September 23, 2020 Posted in Independent Contractor

Soda or pop? Pill bug or roly poly? What you call things depends on where you live. In 2014, the New York Times published this 25-question dialect quiz that will tell you, with startling accuracy, where you or your parents are from. The test is fun, and you can see how words and dialects vary … Continue Reading

Joint Employment Test Gets Muddied Again: Federal Court Rejects New DOL Test

By Todd Lebowitz on September 9, 2020 Posted in Department of Labor

Muddy Waters is how you want your blues, not how you want your laws. A federal district judge in New York yesterday kicked up a lot of mud in an area of the law that had finally seen some clarity – the definition of “joint employment.” Now we’re back in the muck. Yesterday’s ruling struck down … Continue Reading

What Is Joint Employment? New DOL Rules Take Effect in 60 Days

By Todd Lebowitz on January 13, 2020 Posted in Department of Labor

This week’s post is Family Feud Style. Name Three Things That Sound Like They Would Be “Joint Employment” But Are Not: 1. Long-haired, easy-going product tester at the local wacky tobacky dispensary. 2. Note taker at an orthopedist’s office. 3. The guy on radio ads for non-approved supplements claiming to relieve joint pain who says – … Continue Reading

Employers Speak Out on Proposed Changes to FLSA Overtime Rule

By Nathan A. Schacht and Jacob A. Bruner on October 10, 2018 Posted in Department of Labor, FLSA

On Sept. 14, 2018, the Department of Labor (DOL) conducted a fourth public listening session on proposed changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime exemption. The session was one of four public listening sessions offered by the DOL last month. The series is part of a larger rulemaking and comment period being offered … Continue Reading

What Is the State of Joint Employment?

By Todd Lebowitz on October 7, 2018 Posted in Department of Labor, National Labor Relations Board

Each January, the President gives a State of the Union Address to a joint session of Congress. Throughout the speech, as the President touts his agenda and vision, half the audience cheers wildly, while the other half makes frowny faces. All the while, members of the Supreme Court sit stone-faced, internally cheering or wincing but … Continue Reading

DOL Overtime Regulations: The End of an Era

By Amy J. Traub and Andrea Milano on September 6, 2017 Posted in DOL

At least once a week we get a call from a client inquiring about the status of the new salary threshold overtime regulations. We have an update, and the news is good for employers! By way of background, on May 23, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced its final rule (Rule) to increase … Continue Reading

Labor Department Withdraws 2015-16 Joint Employment, Independent Contractor Guidance

By Todd Lebowitz on June 7, 2017 Posted in Independent Contractor

Did the new Labor Secretary finally throw employers a bone? We think so, but it’s too early to tell whether it’s delicious bacon-flavored or some generic processed meat flavor. On June 7, 2017, the Department of Labor (DOL) announced it was withdrawing the 2015 and 2016 informal guidance on joint employment and independent contractor misclassification. The … Continue Reading

Texas Judge Halts December 1 Implementation of Department of Labor’s “Overtime Final Rule”

By Ashlee Grant on November 23, 2016 Posted in Wage and Hour

UPDATE: As anticipated, the Department of Labor has filed its Notice of Appeal with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, asserting that Judge Mazzant’s Nov. 22, 2016, Order enjoining the enforcement of the Department of Labor’s Final Overtime Rule “rests on an error of law and should be reversed.” The DOL has also requested that … Continue Reading

Understanding the New Overtime Regulations

By Amy J. Traub and Adam Seldon on May 18, 2016 Posted in FLSA

Today, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued the final version of the much-anticipated new Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) regulations regarding the salary threshold for exempt employees. This post provides employers with insight into how to understand, and ultimately apply, the new regulations, which will affect employers of all sizes in all industries across … Continue Reading

DOL Final Rule Withstands Challenge, Mandates Changes for Home Health Employers

By Joel D. Gottesman on October 15, 2015 Posted in DOL, FLSA

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit recently reinstated regulations from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), extending federal minimum wage and overtime requirements to home health workers employed by third-party employers. Home Care Association of America v. Weil, No. 15-5018 (Aug. 21, 2015) concerns plaintiffs-appellees Home Care Association of America (Home Care) … Continue Reading

DOL Meets The Far Side, Targets Independent Contractor Relationships

By Todd Lebowitz on July 15, 2015 Posted in Independent Contractor, Uncategorized, Wage and Hour

The all-time best The Far Side cartoon (based on an unscientific survey, sample size of me) is the one with two deer standing in the forest, one with a red circular target imprinted on its chest. The other deer says, “Bummer of a birthmark, Hal.” Poor Hal. Blessed with the ability to walk upright, but … Continue Reading

The Much-Anticipated Proposed Overtime Regulations Would Extend Overtime Protection to Nearly 5 Million Workers in 2016

By Amy J. Traub and Adam Seldon on July 1, 2015 Posted in Department of Labor, FLSA, Retail

Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) announced a much-anticipated proposed rule that, among other things, more than doubles the salary threshold required for an employee to qualify as exempt from overtime pay under Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) regulations that define exempt executive, administrative, and professional employees (“exempt white collar employees”). The current salary … Continue Reading

Alice in Cook County, Illinois: A View Through the Looking Glass at a Ridiculous Wage-Theft Ordinance

By Joel Griswold and John C. McIlwee on February 22, 2015 Posted in FLSA, Wage and Hour

Starting May 1, 2015, employers in Cook County will be subject to a new “Wage-Theft Ordinance” that could lead to employers incurring massive property tax liabilities, business license revocation, and debarment from county contracts. Under the ordinance, local employers will face harsh penalties if they admit guilt or liability or are “adjudicated” to be guilty … Continue Reading