Wage & Hour

  • August 08, 2025

    Black Officer's Lower Pay Ruled Not Based On Discrimination

    The pay disparity between a Black female corrections lieutenant and two white male lieutenants was rooted in civil service pay rules and job differences, not gender and race-based discrimination, an Alabama federal judge ruled.

  • August 07, 2025

    Connecticut Litigation Highlights In The 1st Half Of 2025

    Two separate royalty disputes — one $90 million, the other $4 million — involving two giants in the alcoholic beverages market are among the top corporate cases that crossed Connecticut court dockets in the first half of 2025.

  • August 07, 2025

    Worker Says Property Firm Fired Her Over Medical Diagnosis

    A property management firm has been sued in Georgia federal court by a former employee who alleged she was discriminated against and eventually fired after being diagnosed with ovarian fibroids requiring a hysterectomy and hernia repair.

  • August 07, 2025

    Healthcare Consulting Co. Agrees To Pay $16M In OT Dispute

    A healthcare consulting company agreed to pay $16 million in a lawsuit accusing it of misclassifying care coordinators as overtime-exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act, about 200 workers said in a settlement approval bid filed in New Mexico federal court Thursday.

  • August 07, 2025

    7th Circ.'s Collective Cert. Standard Strikes Balance, Attys Say

    A new framework the Seventh Circuit laid out for certifying collective actions in wage and hour litigation has attorneys for both employers and workers at first blush feeling relieved, as the panel majority put forward a flexible approach that gives lower courts discretion.

  • August 07, 2025

    Unpaid Lottery.com VP OT-Exempt Under FLSA, 5th Circ. Says

    A Texas federal court correctly found that a Lottery.com IT executive was a highly paid exempt employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Fifth Circuit ruled, rejecting the worker's arguments that he had lost his exempt status when he stopped getting paid.

  • August 07, 2025

    Mass. High Court Affirms $1M Pension Loss For OT Fraud

    The forfeiture of $1 million in pension and health benefits following a Massachusetts state trooper's conviction in an overtime fraud scheme is not so grossly disproportionate to the offense that it violates the state constitution's prohibition on excessive fines, Massachusetts' highest court concluded on Thursday.

  • August 07, 2025

    Gig Staffing Cos. Profit By Misclassifying Workers, Court Told

    A slew of staffing companies including Instawork misclassify the workers they hire as independent contractors, a nonprofit organization that advocates for workers' rights said in a suit removed to Ohio federal court, accusing the investors backing the companies of racketeering.

  • August 06, 2025

    NY Judge Confirms Tips Awards In Hotel, Union Arbitration

    A New York City hotel must fork over $60,000 in back pay to its food and beverage attendants after its bartenders decreased the attendants' share of tips nearly 15 years ago, a federal judge ruled, confirming a series of arbitration awards over the hotel's protests.

  • August 06, 2025

    Accounting Firm Must Face Ex-Credit Union CEO's Firing Suit

    The largest accounting firm in Connecticut, Whittlesey PC, must face the former CEO of Sound Federal Credit Union's claim that he was fired for following the firm's advice on when to calendar gains from a $1.2 million property sale, a Connecticut trial court judge has ruled.

  • August 06, 2025

    American Snags Win In Flight Attendant's Wage Suit In NY

    American Airlines' compensation method splitting flight attendants' pay in two didn't violate New York Labor Law's wage statement and late-payment requirements, a federal judge ruled, finding that a flight attendant didn't show the pay plan caused him harm.

  • August 06, 2025

    7th Circ. Adopts Flexible Standard For Collective Actions

    The Seventh Circuit in a discrimination case against Eli Lilly & Co. laid out a new standard for certifying collective actions, joining the Fifth and Sixth circuits in departing from a two-step analysis courts had used for decades but taking a more middle-of-the-road approach.

  • August 06, 2025

    Steakhouse Can't Shake Certified Class In Conn. Wage Suit

    A class of tipped servers accusing a steakhouse at the Foxwoods Resort Casino of unpaid wages will stay in place, a Connecticut state judge ruled, saying that the employer overplayed a court's earlier decision finding that the workers didn't perform nonservice tasks.

  • August 06, 2025

    LA Seeks To Nix Attys In Ex-Cop's Military Leave Bias Suit

    Attorneys for a former Los Angeles Police Department lieutenant improperly obtained and tried to use a privileged email between a city attorney and a current LAPD lieutenant in a military bias suit, the city said, urging a California federal court to disqualify them from the case.

  • August 05, 2025

    Judge Says Colo. Corrections Dept. Must Face OT Pay Claims

    A Colorado federal judge on Tuesday rejected the state Department of Corrections' bid for summary judgment in a proposed collective action accusing the agency of neglecting to pay criminal investigators for hours spent on call.

  • August 05, 2025

    Thousands Of Coaches Noticed For NCAA Wage Suit

    Attorneys spearheading an antitrust class action in California federal court targeting NCAA rules that allegedly suppressed wages of "volunteer coaches" are casting a wide net to publicize their case, sending notices to thousands of current and former coaches informing them they may stand to profit.

  • August 05, 2025

    Stone Hilton Rips Claims As 'Slinging Mud' For Prosecutor

    Stone Hilton PLLC pushed Tuesday to strike certain claims from a former aide's sexual harassment lawsuit, arguing that they were made against the firm — founded by former top prosecutors in the Texas attorney general's office — as a means of "slinging mud" on behalf of Attorney General Ken Paxton's second-in-command.

  • August 05, 2025

    United Tech Says Airline, Union Dropped Ball On Raises

    A United Airlines technician who believes the company shorted him and his co-workers on raises filed a proposed class action against the airline and the Teamsters in California federal court, accusing the airline of violating its union contract's raise policy and the Teamsters of inadequately pressing the issue.

  • August 05, 2025

    5 Of The Biggest Wage-Hour Settlements Of 2025 So Far

    Employers and workers have recently reached multimillion dollar deals to resolve disputes over the minimum wage at Disneyland, alleged paycheck issues at Kroger supermarkets and meal breaks at a hospital. Here’s a quick look at five of the biggest wage and hour settlements that courts gave initial or final approval to so far this year.

  • August 05, 2025

    Behavioral Health Workers Say Albuquerque Owes Them OT

    The city of Albuquerque, New Mexico, misclassified behavioral health responders as overtime-exempt under the Fair Labor Standard Act, leading to unpaid wages, a group of 11 current and former full-time employees said in a proposed collective action in federal court.

  • August 05, 2025

    Ex-Officer Says LAPD Withheld Info In Military Leave Bias Suit

    A former Los Angeles Police Department officer claiming he was passed over for a promotion because of his military status said he has not received the records he requested containing information about similarly situated employees. 

  • August 05, 2025

    Ex-Goldman Fintech Unit Pushes To Arbitrate Wage Suit

    A fintech company formerly owned by Goldman Sachs argued that a group of customer service workers signed valid arbitration agreements, urging a Georgia federal court to send to arbitration their claims that they weren't paid for work they performed before and after their shifts.

  • August 04, 2025

    Darden Shorted Tipped Longhorn Workers On Pay, Suit Says

    Restaurant operator Darden failed to pay full minimum wage to tipped workers at Longhorn Steakhouse locations in Tennessee when they performed non-tip-producing work, a worker said in a lawsuit filed in federal court Monday.

  • August 04, 2025

    Ga. Nursing Home Operator Doesn't Pay Proper OT, Suit Says

    The operator of an Atlanta nursing home failed to pay certified nursing assistants for the overtime they worked, an employee said in a proposed collective action filed in Georgia federal court.

  • August 04, 2025

    Rising Star: McDermott's Chris Braham

    Chris Braham of McDermott Will & Emery LLP helped Circle K defeat a Fair Credit Reporting Act case that went to a California appellate court and helped Darden Restaurants survive an advocacy organization's discrimination suit, earning him a spot among the employment law practitioners under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.

Expert Analysis

  • Court Denial Of $335M UFC Deal Sets Bold Antitrust Precedent

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    A Nevada federal court’s recent refusal to accept a $335 million deal between Ultimate Fighting Championship and a group of former fighters to settle claims of anticompetitive conduct was a rare decision that risks the floodgates opening on established antitrust case law, says Mohit Pasricha at Lawrence Stephens.

  • Employers Should Not Neglect Paid Military Leave Compliance

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    An August decision from the Ninth Circuit and the settlement of a long-running class action, both examining paid leave requirements under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, are part of a nationwide trend that should prompt employers to review their military leave policies to avoid potential litigation and reputational damage, says Bradford Kelley at Littler.

  • Old Employment Law Principles Can Answer New AI Concerns

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    Despite growing legal and regulatory concerns about how artificial intelligence tools may affect employment decisions and worker rights, companies should take comfort in knowing that familiar principles of employment law and established compliance regimes can still largely address these new twists on old questions, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.

  • How NJ Temp Equal Pay Survived A Constitutional Challenge

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    The Third Circuit recently gave the New Jersey Temporary Workers' Bill of Rights a new lease on life by systematically dismantling multiple theories of the act's unconstitutionality brought by staffing agencies hoping to delay their new equal pay and benefits obligations, say attorneys at Duane Morris.

  • NYC Wage Info Bill Highlights Rise In Pay Transparency Laws

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    With New York City the latest to mull requiring companies to annually report employee wage data, national employers should consider adapting their compliance practices to comply with increasingly common pay transparency and disclosure obligations at state and local levels, says Kelly Cardin at Littler Mendelson.

  • Calif. Ruling Clarifying Paystub Compliance Is Win For Cos.

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    In rare good news for California employers, the state Supreme Court recently clarified that workers couldn’t win extra penalties in wage and hour cases by claiming their employer intentionally violated state paystub law if the employer believed it had complied in good faith, say Drei Munar and Kirk Hornbeck at Hunton.

  • Water Cooler Talk: Immigration Insights From 'The Proposal'

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    Tracey Diamond and Evan Gibbs at Troutman Pepper chat with their colleague Robert Lee about how immigration challenges highlighted in the romantic comedy "The Proposal" — beyond a few farcical plot contrivances — relate to real-world visa processes and employer compliance.

  • How Calif. Justices' Prop 22 Ruling Affects The Gig Industry

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    The California Supreme Court's recent upholding of Proposition 22 clarifies that Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and other companies in the gig industry can legally classify their drivers as independent contractors, but it falls short of concluding some important regulatory battles in the state, says Mark Spring at CDF Labor.

  • Eye On Compliance: NY's New Freelance Protection Law

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    New York's Freelance Isn't Free Act is set to take effect later this month, meaning employers must be proactive in ensuring compliance and take steps to mitigate risks, such as updating documentation and specifying correct worker classification, says Jonathan Meer at Wilson Elser.

  • Illinois BIPA Reform Offers Welcome Relief To Businesses

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    Illinois' recent amendment to its Biometric Information Privacy Act limits the number of violations and damages a plaintiff can claim — a crucial step in shielding businesses from unintended legal consequences, including litigation risk and compliance costs, say attorneys at Taft.

  • 2 Lessons From Calif. Overtime Wages Ruling

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    A California federal court's recent decision finding that Home Depot did not purposely dodge overtime laws sheds light on what constitutes a good faith dispute, and the extent to which employers have discretion to define employees' workdays, says Michael Luchsinger at Segal McCambridge.

  • How To Comply With Chicago's New Paid Leave Ordinance

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    Chicago's new Paid Leave and Paid Sick and Safe Leave Ordinance went into effect earlier this month, so employers subject to the new rules should update leave policies, train supervisors and deliver notice as they seek compliance, say Alison Crane and Sarah Gasperini at Jackson Lewis.

  • How NJ Worker Status Ruling Benefits Real Estate Industry

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    In Kennedy v. Weichert, the New Jersey Supreme Court recently said a real estate agent’s employment contract would supersede the usual ABC test analysis to determine his classification as an independent contractor, preserving operational flexibility for the industry — and potentially others, say Jason Finkelstein and Dalila Haden at Cole Schotz.