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.
NJ Equal Pay Act Not Retroactive: Outstanding!
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
Defense Counsel Should Always Consider Preemption Motions To Dismiss In FLSA Cases When State Common Law Claims Are Asserted
Where a plaintiff files a FLSA (or other statutory wage hour) lawsuit, he may well file state law, tort-like claims, such as unjust enrichment, breach of contract, fraud and others. Usually, if not always, those claims/counts are predicated upon and solely arise from the alleged FLSA violations. As such, the FLSA (or any other wage
Interagency Coordination Between NJDOL And USDOL: Like Petula Clark Sang, Is This A “Sign Of The Times?”
The issue of who is and who is not an independent contractor has exploded on the legal scene in recent years. Many agencies are honing in on this topic and I have, over the last five years, probably defended more than fifty audits, inspections and lawsuits involving this issue. Well, the landscape just got murkier,
When Does Accrued Sick Time Become Wages? The Employer Can Dictate That
An issue often facing employers, in every state, is: when does sick time or vacation time become wages and under what conditions should these days be paid out, especially when an employee separates employment. The Supreme Court of Massachusetts has weighed in on this and held that accrued, unused sick time is not wages under
The Best Defense is a Strong Offense
Jonathan Ash writes:
In what amounts to a victory for all employers throughout the State of New York, the Supreme Court of New York recently granted summary judgment in one of the first cases to effectively make use of the newly amended affirmative defense
“Mud Men” Reach Settlement In Overtime Suit
I love this one. For the title of the worker classification involved. It appears that a class of drilling fluid specialists, commonly referred to as “mud men,” has reached a $7 million settlement in its wage and hour suit against M-I LLC. The case is entitled Syed et al. v. M-I LLC and was filed
Deductions Issues Require Scrutiny of Both Federal and State Laws
Employers may make deductions for uniforms under the Fair Labor Standards Act but such deductions cannot take their wage rates under the minimum. Life Time Fitness just learned this truism. The gym chain has agreed to pay in excess of $976,000 in back wages and damages to almost 16,000 employees whose wages fell below the
Use of Fluctuating Workweek Method To Compute Damages Disallowed
A group of New Jersey sales associates who work in Dish Network LLC call centers urged a federal court to confirm a $1.9 million arbitration award stemming from a proposed class action, in which the workers said the satellite television provider miscalculated their overtime pay rates. The case is entitled Frisari v. Dish Network LLC,
Use of Labor Law Preemption in FLSA Case Is a Good Start
Whenever a FLSA suit is lodged against a unionized employer, I always look for the possibility of a preemption defense, which will, in one fell swoop, doom the entire litigation. If the Court finds that the matter is governed by the parties’ labor contract and is better and properly left for the arbitration (or NLRB)