Wage & Hour

  • February 07, 2025

    Judge Blocks USAID From Putting 2,200 Workers On Leave

    A D.C. federal judge on Friday issued a "limited" temporary restraining order blocking the U.S. Agency for International Development from putting 2,200 employees on paid administrative leave and ordering the agency to reinstate 500 employees already on leave.

  • February 07, 2025

    GEO Group Urges Full 9th Circ. To Weigh $23.2M Wage Case

    A Ninth Circuit panel decision holding GEO Group to Washington state's minimum wage standards discriminated against the federal government, the private prison giant argued, urging the full court to mull a case that has the company on the hook for $23.2 million.

  • February 07, 2025

    House Workforce Panel Chair Talks DOL Oversight, DOGE

    The new chairman of the U.S. House panel responsible for oversight of the U.S. Department of Labor said he was confident in President Donald Trump's pick for labor secretary and that he doesn't mind the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency looking into the agency. U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg spoke with Law360 about his plans as chairman.

  • February 07, 2025

    NJ Supreme Court Snapshot: Paterson Police, Immigrant Pay

    The New Jersey attorney general's takeover of the embattled Paterson police department and a dispute over how undocumented migrants are treated under the state's wage law are among the matters the Garden State high court recently agreed to tackle.

  • February 07, 2025

    NY Forecast: 2nd Circ. Hears Maternity Leave, Retaliation Suit

    This week the Second Circuit is scheduled consider a former New York City Economic Development Corp. employee's attempt to revive her lawsuit claiming her supervisor retaliated against her for taking maternity and medical leave. Here, Law360 looks at this and other notable cases on the docket this week in New York courts.

  • February 07, 2025

    Okla. School District Settles Ex-Teacher's Military Leave Suit

    An Oklahoma school district has agreed to pay a former music teacher $60,000 to resolve his suit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice claiming the district scuttled his employment contract for taking leave to serve in the U.S. Air Force Reserve.

  • February 07, 2025

    Chili's Workers Can't Get Class Status In Meal Break Suit

    A California federal judge refused to sign off on a class of nearly 1,300 Chili's employees who accused the chain's parent company of failing to provide them with 30-minute meal breaks, saying the workers' experiences are too varied to satisfy class treatment.

  • February 06, 2025

    Fed. Worker Reps Slam 'Unfathomably Cruel' USAID Shutdown

    The Trump administration's illegal decision to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development has caused a global humanitarian crisis, cost thousands of Americans their jobs and threatens U.S. national security, groups representing federal employees and foreign service workers alleged in a federal lawsuit Thursday in Washington, D.C.

  • February 06, 2025

    ERISA Preempts Banker's $5.5M Deferred Comp, Judge Rules

    The Employee Retirement Income Security Act preempts a former Leerink Partners employee's claims that she was cheated out of about $5.5 million in deferred compensation after the bank hired her under allegedly false pretenses from Goldman Sachs, a Massachusetts federal judge ruled Thursday.

  • February 06, 2025

    Biden Wage Rule Challengers To Continue Fight In Trump Era

    Libertarian law firms that challenged U.S. Department of Labor wage and hour rules under former President Joe Biden expect to continue such fights while President Donald Trump is in office. Here, Law360 explores what to expect from such firms in wage litigation.

  • February 06, 2025

    UFC Fighters Get Final Approval For $375M Settlement

    A Nevada federal judge granted final approval Thursday to a $375 million settlement in a more than a decade-long class action in which fighters accused UFC of suppressing their wages, according to a lead attorney on the case.

  • February 06, 2025

    Papa John's Franchisee Fails To Pay All Wages, Worker Says

    A Papa John's franchise owner failed to properly pay workers minimum wage and overtime pay and did not provide workers with meal and rest periods, according to a lawsuit filed in California state court.

  • February 06, 2025

    Fla. Judge Beats Bias Challenge In Presiding Over CBD Suit

    A Florida federal judge on Thursday rejected an objection by former franchisee for CBD company American Shaman Franchise System LLC to a magistrate judge's decision not to recuse herself from his breach of contract case.

  • February 06, 2025

    Inspection Workers Get Collective Status In Wage Suit

    A Pennsylvania federal judge on Thursday signed off on a collective of inspectors accusing an inspection services firm of shorting them on wages, saying the employees showed in their suit that they were all subject to the same pay policy and thus sufficiently similar.

  • February 06, 2025

    Frontier Says Late-Pay, Per Diem Claims Don't Fall Under FLSA

    The Fair Labor Standards Act doesn't specify when employers need to pay workers and doesn't give a right to per diem payments, Frontier Communications and a staffing contractor said while urging a Florida federal court to trim a telecom technician's suit.

  • February 06, 2025

    Trump's Federal Worker Buyout Plan Put On Hold

    A Massachusetts federal judge on Thursday put on hold the Trump administration's "deferred resignation" program for federal employees, delaying the deadline for workers to accept the offer until Monday while the court weighs the legality of the move.

  • February 06, 2025

    Mortgage Co. Strikes Deal To End Loan Officers' OT Suit

    A mortgage company reached an agreement with a collective of loan officers to resolve their suit accusing the firm of unlawfully classifying them as exempt from earning overtime wages, a filing in California federal court said.

  • February 05, 2025

    DOL Scores Partial Win In Farmworker Union Wage Rate Fight

    A Washington federal judge has granted the U.S. Department of Labor a partial win in a farmworker union's challenge to federal policies that have allegedly depressed farmworker wages, concluding that some claims challenge DOL actions that aren't final agency actions.

  • February 05, 2025

    Musk Can't Access DOL Data, Labor Groups Say

    The AFL-CIO, the Economic Policy Institute and four unions sued the U.S. Department of Labor and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency in D.C. federal court Wednesday, seeking a temporary restraining order to stop DOL leadership from complying with any attempt by DOGE to access DOL data.

  • February 05, 2025

    Worker, Nonprofit Mental Health Co. Agree To End Work Row

    A former case manager sanctioned for faking evidence and the nonprofit mental health and addiction treatment center she accused of not paying full wages told a North Carolina federal court they agreed to end the case a month before the trial was set to start.

  • February 05, 2025

    NJ Supreme Court Will Review Immigrant's Wage Case

    The New Jersey Supreme Court said it will review rulings that denied a bid for unpaid wages by an immigrant living in the country without legal permission, which stemmed from an arrangement that had him performing tasks for a property management company in exchange for an apartment.

  • February 05, 2025

    Justices' Ruling Nixes Md. Court's FLSA Order, 4th Circ. Told

    A Maryland federal court's decision imposing a stricter standard for an employer to claim an overtime exemption is no longer valid after the U.S. Supreme Court said the heightened evidence standard isn't necessary, an international food distributor told the Fourth Circuit.

  • February 05, 2025

    Ex-CBD Co. Franchisee Says Magistrate Can't Rule On DQ Bid

    A former franchisee for CBD company American Shaman Franchise System LLC on Wednesday objected to an order from a magistrate judge rejecting his bid to disqualify her, saying that a magistrate judge has no authority to decide on a posttrial motion.

  • February 05, 2025

    Poultry Processor, DOL Strike Deal In Child Labor Suit

    A Mississippi poultry processor will pay $57,000 to end a U.S. Department of Labor suit alleging it violated child labor laws, according to a motion filed Wednesday.

  • February 05, 2025

    Ill. Restaurant To Pay $747K In DOL Wage Suit

    A restaurant in Illinois will pay nearly $747,000 in a U.S. Department of Labor suit alleging it stiffed workers on their full wages and fudged records, according to a federal court filing.

Expert Analysis

  • 7 Ways To Prepare For An I-9 Audit Or Immigration Raid

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    Because immigration enforcement is likely to surge under the upcoming Trump administration, employers should take steps to ensure their staff is trained in employment eligibility verification requirements and what to do in the event of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement I-9 audit or workplace raid, say attorneys at Littler.

  • Args In 2 High Court Cases May Foretell Clarity For Employers

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    Mary Anna Brand at Maynard Nexsen examines possible employment implications of two cases argued before the Supreme Court this fall, including a higher bar for justifying employees as overtime exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act, and earlier grants of prevailing party status for employee-plaintiffs seeking attorney fees.

  • Disentangling Various Forms Of Workplace Discrimination

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    Pay inequity can be missed where it exists and misidentified due to incorrect statistics, leaving individuals to face multiple facets of discrimination connected by a common root cause, meaning correct identification and measurement is crucial, says Daniel Levy at Advanced Analytical.

  • Calif. Ruling May Shield Public Employers From Labor Claims

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    In Stone v. Alameda Health System, the California Supreme Court recently exempted a county hospital from state-mandated rest breaks and the Private Attorneys General Act, granting government employers a robust new bulwark against other labor statutes by undermining an established doctrine for determining if a law applies to public entities, say attorneys at Hunton.

  • Key Requirements In New Maryland Pay Transparency Laws

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    Although several jurisdictions now require pay transparency in job advertisements, Maryland's new law is among the broadest in the country, both in terms of what is required and the scope of its applicability, says Sarah Belger at Quarles & Brady.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: November Lessons

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    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses six federal court decisions that touch on Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and when individual inquiries are needed to prove economic loss.

  • Federal Salary History Ban's Reach Is Limited

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    Though a newly effective Office of Personnel Management rule takes important steps by banning federal employers from considering job applicants' nonfederal salary histories, the rule's narrow applicability and overconfidence in the existing system's fairness will likely not end persistent pay inequities, says Margaret House at Kalijarvi Chuzi.

  • Tips For Employers As Courts Shift On Paid Leave Bias Suits

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    After several federal courts recently cited the U.S. Supreme Court's Muldrow decision — which held that job transfers could be discriminatory — in ruling that paid administrative leave may also constitute an adverse employment action, employers should carefully consider several points before suspending workers, says Tucker Camp at Foley & Lardner.

  • Employer Lessons From Mass. 'Bonus Not Wages' Ruling

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    In Nunez v. Syncsort, a Massachusetts state appeals court recently held that a terminated employee’s retention bonus did not count as wages under the state’s Wage Act, illustrating the nuanced ways “wages” are defined by state statutes and courts, say attorneys at Segal McCambridge.

  • Employment Verification Poses Unique Risks For Staffing Cos.

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    All employers face employee verification issues, but a survey of recent settlements with the U.S. Department of Justice's Immigrant and Employee Rights Section suggests that staffing companies' unique circumstances raise the chances they will be investigated and face substantial fines, says Eileen Scofield at Alston & Bird.

  • Amazon Holiday Pay Case Underscores Overtime Challenges

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    The recent Hamilton v. Amazon.com Services LLC decision in the Colorado Supreme Court underscores why employers must always consult applicable state law and regulations — in addition to federal law — when determining how to properly pay employees who work more than 40 hours in a workweek, says James Looby at Vedder Price.

  • What To Know About New Employment Laws In Fla.

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    Florida employers should familiarize themselves with recent state laws, and also federal legislation, on retirement benefits, teen labor and heat exposure, with special attention to prohibitions against minors performing dangerous tasks, as outlined in the Fair Labor Standards Act, say Katie Molloy and Cayla Page at Greenberg Traurig.

  • 5th Circ. DOL Tip Decision May Trigger Final 80/20 Rule Fight

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    A recent Fifth Circuit decision concerning a Labor Department rule that limits how often tipped employees can be assigned non-tip-producing duties could be challenged in either historically rule-friendly circuits or the Supreme Court, but either way it could shape the future of tipped work, says Kevin Johnson at Johnson Jackson.