Wage and HourBlog Posts
Rhode Island Joins List of States Enacting $15 Minimum Wage LawOn May 20, 2021, Governor Dan McKee signed an amendment to Rhode Island law that will see the Ocean State’s minimum wage increase to $15.00 per hour by 2025. Beginning January 1, 2022, Rhode Island’s minimum wage will increase from its current $11.50 to $12.25. On January 1, 2023, it will increase to $13.00 and...… Continue ReadingMay 21, 2021 |
Commute Time Is Compensable Only When “Integral and Indispensable” to Employee’s Duties, Fifth Circuit ReaffirmsUpholding the trial court’s dismissal of an FLSA collective action, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reiterated that an employee’s commute time is compensable only when the commute is “integral and indispensable” to the employee’s job duties. Bennett v. McDermott Int’l, Inc., 2021 U.S. App. Lexis 10948 (5th Cir. Apr. 16, 2021). The Fifth Circuit...… Continue ReadingMay 6, 2021 |
FLSA’s Extended Limitations Period Requires Plausible Factual Pleadings, Second Circuit HoldsBecause the plaintiff failed to allege any facts supporting his claim that his former employer acted willfully in failing to pay him overtime, he was not entitled to the FLSA’s extended, three-year statute of limitations. Therefore, as his claim was filed well after the standard two-year limitations period for such claims had expired, the trial...… Continue ReadingApril 29, 2021 |
DOL Adopts Portions of Tipped Regulations Final Rule, Proposes Further Delay of Other PortionsWhile deciding to make effective some portions of the Tipped Regulations Final Rule published in the final weeks of the former administration, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has proposed further delay and consideration of the most controversial provisions of the Rule, including the elimination of the “80/20 Rule” that purports to limit the percentage...… Continue ReadingMarch 25, 2021 |
A Few Out-of-State Telephone Calls Per Week May Be Sufficient to Establish FLSA Coverage, 11th Circuit HoldsAn administrative assistant, who regularly made three to five telephone calls out of state per week to her employer’s clients and vendors, may have sufficiently engaged in interstate commerce to establish “individual coverage” under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit concluded. St. Elien v. All County...… Continue ReadingMarch 23, 2021 |
Wisconsin Wage and Hour Law: Rounding Employee TimeWage and hour claims, particularly those asserting class or collective violations, comprise a significant percentage of employment law claims across the country, and Wisconsin is no exception. Improper rounding and other timecard policies frequently are the culprit in such claims against employers. Wage and hour lawsuits, whether individual or class/collective action in nature, typically are...… Continue ReadingMarch 18, 2021 |
Biden DOL Proposes Withdrawal of Former Administration’s Joint Employer and Independent Contractor Final RulesOn March 11, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRMs) to withdraw the Joint Employer and Independent Contractor Final Rules published during the previous administration. The Joint Employer Final Rule The Joint Employer Final Rule went into effect in January 2020 and addressed the standard for determining whether an...… Continue ReadingMarch 12, 2021 |
Full Fifth Circuit to Hear FLSA “Day Rate” Case, Vacating Panel OpinionIn April 2020, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that paying an employee a set amount for each day he works (i.e. on a “day rate” basis) does not satisfy the “salary basis” component required to qualify as overtime-exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), regardless...… Continue ReadingMarch 11, 2021 |
As Expected, DOL Delays Independent Contractor Final RuleOn March 2, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) formally delayed the effective date of the Independent Contractor Final Rule, from March 8, 2021 to May 7, 2021. The Final Rule, published during the last two weeks of the prior administration, provides that “an individual is an independent contractor, as distinguished from an ‘employee’...… Continue ReadingMarch 3, 2021 |
DOL Delays Tip Regulations Final Rule, Independent Contractor Final Rule Likely NextAs expected, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has formally delayed the effective date of the Tip Regulations Final Rule, from March 1, 2021 to April 30, 2021. The Tip Regulations Final Rule, issued in late December 2020, implemented a 2018 amendment to the FLSA that permits tipped employees, such as restaurant servers, to pool...… Continue ReadingFebruary 25, 2021 |