State Wage & Hour Laws

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I have long been a fan of the fluctuating work week (FWW) method of paying overtime to non-exempt salaried employees.  This computation yields a half-time calculation, i.e. a lower calculation than dividing the salary by forty and then calculating time and one half of that number.  The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has recently held that this…

I have blogged numerous times about the strictness of the New Jersey A-B-C test as applied to possible independent contractors.  The prime example of this is the very recent assessment of Uber for $650,000,000 in back-due unemployment contributions.  This incredibly large assessment, certain to be litigated about for years, is a sign to employers, large,…

Many industries and businesses are seasonal and I have been often approached with a client question to the effect of whether the client can change the exempt status of workers, depending on the season.  This occurs, for example, in the case of an employee who is the Head Coach of an athletic team for a…

The truth is that cannabis has now become (and continues to become) big business and the issue of regulation, much, none or in the middle, is now coming to the forefront in legal circles.  Many firms (my own included) have cannabis practice groups and are advising companies in this burgeoning field about the rules of…

I read a very interesting article in the Epstein Becker Wage & Hour Defense Blog, whose sentiments I wholeheartedly agree with.  It concerns the issue of attorney fees for plaintiff lawyers in FLSA/wage cases.  The blog post notes that often, these lawyers get big dollar fee awards, while the allegedly victimized people they represent get…

The area of prevailing wage law, construction wage-hour law, is a niche within a niche and a very complicated area of wage hour law.  I am proud to say I have defended more than one hundred employers in these cases, both the federal Davis Bacon Act and a number of state prevailing wage, but there…

The State of New Jersey has passed several laws in the wage-hour area that are definitely pro-employee, to say the least.  The latest effort on this front is something quite special, or onerous, depending on which side you are on.  The brand new, effective immediately, New Jersey State Wage Theft Act (WTA) geometrically adds to…

The New Jersey DOL is very aggressive on the issue of independent contractor status, i.e. the issue of misclassification.  The latest, perhaps best (or worst) illustration of this view is the agency’s determination that court reporters are employees for purposes of the Unemployment Law.  This errant decision, which cuts against traditional modes of thinking on…

An interesting decision just issued involving an employer who attempted to use a blended compensation system to pay employees overtime.  A federal appellate court ruled, however, that this system did not comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act and allowed a million dollar judgment obtained by the USDOL to stand.  The case is entitled U.S.

There has been a good deal of controversy and confusion over whether the recently enacted New Jersey Equal Pay Act was retroactive.  The law became effective July 1, 2018 and has a six year statute of limitations.  Could a lawsuit filed after enactment, say in August 2018, go back to August 2012?  We did not…