Wage & Hour

  • March 06, 2024

    Vassar Professors Say School Can't Trim Equal Pay Suit

    A group of female professors said a New York federal judge should ax Vassar College's bid to toss their New York equal pay claims from their suit alleging they were paid less than male colleagues, arguing that the college has demanded they provide more detail than necessary.

  • March 06, 2024

    Media Co. Seeks To Ax Mich. Wage Suit, Arbitrate Claims

    A media company told a Michigan federal judge that a former copywriter's proposed collective action accusing the company of misclassifying content creators as independent contractors belongs in arbitration, saying the ex-worker had signed an arbitration agreement and she already tried to bring the suit in a different district.

  • March 06, 2024

    Liff Walsh Adds Ex-DOL Atty To Lead Employment Team

    Liff Walsh & Simmons added a partner with experience at the U.S. Department of Labor and doing public interest work to lead and expand its labor and employment practice.

  • March 06, 2024

    Republicans Advance Bicameral Effort To Halt Contractor Rule

    Republican lawmakers in the U.S. Senate and House introduced legislation Wednesday that aims to pump the brakes on the U.S. Department of Labor's independent contractor rule a few days before it goes into effect.

  • March 06, 2024

    Chamber, Trade Groups Revamp Contractor Rule Challenge

    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a slew of trade groups revamped their lawsuit in Texas federal court accusing the U.S. Department of Labor of violating federal law when it issued its latest independent contractor rule, alleging it tried to circumvent a court's earlier ruling.

  • March 06, 2024

    3rd Time's The Charm For Parking Attendants' $250K OT Deal

    A New York federal judge OK'd the third version of a $250,000 overtime settlement between a parking garage company and attendants after shooting down previous attempts for letting too many entities off the hook in claim releases, saying the latest deal remedied the issue.

  • March 06, 2024

    SF Case Shows Calif. Cities' Role In Fighting Misclassification

    An injunction obtained by the San Francisco city attorney that requires on-demand hospitality staffing company Qwick to reclassify its independent contractor workforce as employees highlights the role local officials have in enforcing employment laws in California, attorneys told Law360.

  • March 05, 2024

    Employer Can't Dodge Paystub Fight Fine, Calif. Justices Told

    A former security guard urged the California Supreme Court at a hearing Tuesday to find that his employer must pay retroactive civil penalties for knowingly and intentionally violating wage statement requirements for years while litigating claims it eventually lost, arguing the state labor code doesn't include a good-faith dispute defense.

  • March 05, 2024

    Wash. Court Says Dept. Jumped Gun On Weed Co. Wage Suit

    The Washington Department of Labor and Industries prematurely commenced a wage action against a cannabis company, state appellate judges ruled, because it had not yet determined how much the company owed its workers.

  • March 05, 2024

    3rd Circ. Skeptical Of Teamsters' Belated Wage Grievance

    A Third Circuit panel appears likely to uphold a decision dismissing a union's wage grievance win despite buying that a cemetery operator disregarded their deal after all but agreeing Tuesday with a district court judge that the union waited too long to object to the company's alleged violation.

  • March 05, 2024

    Amazon Workers Push For Class Status In Military Leave Suit

    Current and former Amazon employees urged a Washington federal court to grant them class status in their lawsuit accusing the company of demoting or firing workers who took time off for military leave, saying the 15,000 members of the proposed class have plenty in common.

  • March 05, 2024

    NYC Can't Dump EMS Workers Union's Race, Sex Bias Claims

    The City of New York cannot escape claims that it discriminatorily favors its mostly white staff of firefighters over its mostly non-white emergency medical workers, as a federal judge held that the two categories of workers were arguably similar.

  • March 05, 2024

    US Chamber Tells Justices Stay Required During Arbitration

    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce told the U.S. Supreme Court that courts must stay suits they sent into arbitration, saying that the Federal Arbitration Act doesn't contemplate the dismissal option.

  • March 05, 2024

    Arkansas Judge Finds Exotic Dancers Are Employees

    An Arkansas federal judge ruled a group of exotic dancers proved they should have been classified as employees rather than independent contractors, but said she could not yet determine who the dancers' employer actually was.

  • March 05, 2024

    NYU Labor Expert On How To Fight Child Labor Violators

    NYU's Terri Gerstein, a workers' rights advocate, said that there needs to be major reforms in child labor laws to heighten the cost of noncompliance and empower workers to come forward in order to address the increase in violations.

  • March 05, 2024

    2 MoFo Employment Experts Jump To Davis Wright In LA

    Davis Wright Tremaine LLP is expanding its California team, announcing Tuesday it is bringing in a pair of Morrison Foerster LLP employment litigators as partners in its Los Angeles office.

  • March 05, 2024

    Jackson Lewis Picks Up Ogletree Veteran In NYC

    Jackson Lewis PC has added a former Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC shareholder to its New York City office, bringing on an attorney who is looking to help clients navigate the unique challenges of the Big Apple's ever-evolving landscape of workplace regulations.

  • March 05, 2024

    2nd Circ. Asks Lower Court To Clarify FLSA Claim Status

    The Second Circuit in a published opinion Tuesday sent workers' wage class action against a New York City restaurant operator back down to a district court after the restaurant appealed a $5 million judgment against it on state labor law claims, saying the workers' federal claims are still in limbo.

  • March 05, 2024

    DC Looks To Defeat Black Atty's Bias, Retaliation Suit

    A Black attorney's discrimination and retaliation claims against the District of Columbia and a chief administrative law judge cannot stand, the district told a federal court, arguing in part that the attorney failed to raise some of her claims with the EEOC.

  • March 05, 2024

    Residential Care Co. To Pay Over $13K For OT Violations

    An Iowa-based residential care company that provides nonemergency transportation will pay more than $13,000 to end a suit brought by the U.S. Department of Labor accusing it of denying workers their overtime wages, according to court papers filed Tuesday.

  • March 05, 2024

    BMW Reaches Deal With Worker In Calif. Wage Suit

    BMW and a worker told a California federal judge they reached a settlement agreement in the worker's suit accusing the car manufacturer of stiffing a proposed class on minimum and overtime wages and committing a slew of other labor violations.

  • March 05, 2024

    Firms Accuse Ottinger Of Hoarding Fees In Wage Class Action

    The Ottinger Firm PC is being sued by two law firms over allegedly refusing to fairly split $666,666 in attorney fees after helping them secure a $2 million settlement in an employment class action, according to an unfiled complaint drafted Friday.

  • March 04, 2024

    Ranches Nix Shepherds' 'Indentured Servitude' Suit For Now

    A Nevada federal judge culled individual ranches from a sheepherder's antitrust lawsuit Monday, ruling that for now, the proposed class action has failed to specify their role in an alleged scheme led by the Western Range Association to keep guest worker wages down to the level of "permanent indentured servitude."

  • March 04, 2024

    Musk Fired Twitter Execs To Avoid $200M Bill, Suit Says

    Elon Musk fired four top Twitter executives just minutes after he closed on his deal to buy the company, now called X Corp., to avoid paying them $200 million in severance benefits, they told a California federal court Monday.

  • March 04, 2024

    Philly Uber Drivers Tell Jury They're Employees

    Counsel for Uber drivers told a federal jury in Philadelphia on Monday that the ride-hailing company saved big on labor costs by misclassifying them as independent contractors instead of employees entitled to benefits.

Expert Analysis

  • Employment-Related Litigation Risks Facing Hospitality Cos.

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    A close look at recent hospitality industry employment claims highlights key issues companies should keep an eye out for, and insurance policy considerations for managing risk related to wage and hour, privacy, and human trafficking claims, say Jan Larson and Huiyi Chen at Jenner & Block.

  • Acquiring A Company That Uses A Professional Employer Org.

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    With the professional employer organization industry rapidly expanding, those seeking to acquire a company that uses a PEO should understand there are several employment- and benefits-related complexities, especially in regard to retirement, health and welfare plans, say Megan Monson and Taryn Cannataro at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • What Could Lie Ahead For Prop 22 After Calif. Appellate Ruling

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    On the heels of a California appeals court’s recent decision to uphold Proposition 22 — which allows gig companies to classify workers as independent contractors — an analysis of related rulings and legislation over the past five years should provide context for the next phase of this battle, says Rex Berry at Signature Resolution.

  • 3rd Circ. Ruling Offers Tools To Manage Exempt Employees

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    The Third Circuit’s recent opinion in Higgins v. Bayada Home Health, finding the Fair Labor Standards Act allows employers to deduct paid time off for missed employee productivity targets, gives companies another resource for managing exempt employee inefficiency or absenteeism, says Laura Lawless at Squire Patton.

  • Illinois Paid Leave Law May Create Obstacles For Employers

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    Illinois' Paid Leave for All Workers Act, which goes into effect next year, could create issues and potential liability for employers due to its ambiguity, so companies should review and modify existing workplace policies to prevent challenges, including understaffing, says Matt Tyrrell at Schoenberg Finkel.

  • What Employers Must Know About FLSA 'Salary Basis' Rule

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    To satisfy the salary basis requirement for administrative, executive and professional employee exemptions under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, employers must take care not to jeopardize employees' exempt status through improper deductions, says Adriana Kosovych at Epstein Becker.

  • Water Cooler Talk: Quiet Quitting Insights From 'Seinfeld'

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    Tracey Diamond and Evan Gibbs at Troutman Pepper chat with Paradies Lagardere's Rebecca Silk about George Costanza's "quiet quitting" tendencies in "Seinfeld" and how such employees raise thorny productivity-monitoring issues for employers.

  • How FLSA Actions Are Playing Out Amid Split On Opt-In Issue

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    Courts are currently split on whether opt-in plaintiffs in collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act who join a lawsuit filed by another employee must establish personal jurisdiction, but the resolution could come sooner than one might expect, say Matt Abee and Debbie Durban at Nelson Mullins.

  • Pros And Cons As Calif. Employers Rethink Forced Arbitration

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    As California employers reconsider mandatory arbitration pacts following favorable high-profile federal and state court rulings, they should contemplate the benefits and burdens of such agreements, and fine-tune contract language to ensure continued enforcement, say Niki Lubrano and Brian Cole at CDF Labor Law.

  • What Calif. Employers Need To Know About Wage Theft

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    With the attention of the media, as well as California's state and local governments, now focused on wage theft, more Golden State employers face a dual threat of enforcement and negative publicity, so companies should take specific steps to make sure they don't find their name in the next story, say attorneys at Buchanan Ingersoll.

  • Eye On Compliance: Cross-State Noncompete Agreements

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    The Federal Trade Commission's recent proposal to limit the application of worker noncompete agreements is a timely reminder for prudent employers to reexamine their current policies and practices around such covenants — especially businesses with operational footprints spanning more than one state, says Jeremy Stephenson at Wilson Elser.

  • A DOL Reminder That ADA Doesn't Limit FMLA Protections

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    A recent U.S. Department of Labor opinion letter and some case law make clear that the Family and Medical Leave Act fills in gaps where the Americans with Disabilities Act may not neatly apply, however the agency ignored a number of courts that have supported termination when "no overtime" restrictions effectively reduce a position to part-time, says Jeff Nowak at Littler Mendelson.

  • Pending NCAA Ruling Could Spell Change For Unpaid Interns

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    The Third Circuit's upcoming Johnson v. NCAA decision, over whether student-athletes can be considered university employees, could reverberate beyond college sports and force employers with unpaid student interns to add these workers to their payrolls, say Babak Yousefzadeh and Skyler Hicks at Sheppard Mullin.