As a general rule, employee expense reimbursements are not includible in the regular rate for purposes of overtime computation. When the reimbursements, however, are unreasonable or out of whack (i.e. too high) as regards the particular expense, then the USDOL takes the position that the reimbursements are really a backdoor way of paying the employee
Named Plaintiff in OT Class Action Dooms The Case By Her “Re-Inventing” Her Deposition Testimony: A Cautionary Tale!
In class actions there is always a named plaintiff (or two or three, etc). That person acts as the class representative and is the “flagship” for the entire case. When that individual does something to jeopardize their status as such a “representative,” the entire case might go away. That is precisely what happened in a
FLSA Settlement Principles Illustrated by Recent Case: A Primer on What Is Appropriate
When FLSA lawsuits are settled, the matter must go before a federal judge for approval, as opposed to when a “demand letter” is sent and the parties settle prior to suit. There are many elements that a court must look at to determine if the settlement is appropriate and the recent case of Fritz v
Pandemic Instigates First of (Probably) Many Lawsuits on Wage Payment
Well, here we are, still in the midst of this horrible COVID-19 pandemic, staying home, scared to go out, wearing masks and gloves, but yet, the first lawsuit(s) involving virus issues have already been filed. In this instance, right in my home state of New Jersey, a hair stylist has filed a class and collective
Another Assistant Manager FLSA Class Action Goes Down—When Will They Ever Learn?
I love Assistant Manager class actions because it gives a defense lawyer a “golden” opportunity to defeat class certification by asserting that too much individual scrutiny is required to allow a class action to proceed. A beautiful example of this is a recent Walmart case where a group of Assistant Managers dropped their misclassification lawsuits,
New Jersey Wage Deduction Class Action Revived by Appellate Division: More Independent Contractor Fallout
When employers classify individuals as independent contractors, they are not obligated to provide them with certain benefits, as they would statutory employees. Sometimes, if those individuals are found to not be independent contractors, those “failures” come back oftentimes to haunt the employers. Another example of this phenomenon has happened in that a New Jersey appellate
Settling With (Only) the Named Plaintiff in Collective Actions: The Way To Go!
I often preach that, when dealing with a class action, the employer should try to pick off the named plaintiff, perhaps overpaying to do so (or maybe not). In this interesting case, the parties settled (i.e. with the named plaintiff) right after the class had been decertified. The plaintiff had argued that he was misclassified
Judge Allows Named Plaintiff Expansive Ability To Communicate with Potential Opt-Ins in FLSA Collective Action
When a class action is filed, often times there are issues (for the plaintiff and their counsel) as to who should be in the class. Often, the named plaintiff will seek to reach out to other putative class members, but it is not every day when a Judge orders that the plaintiff may telephone or
Civility In FLSA Litigation—Hard To Come By (Sometimes)
I have always approached litigation as seeking to maintain a cordial, civil relationship with my adversary, especially if it is (as happens a lot) my goal to settle the case early on. There are times, however, I love when it gets nasty. Especially when I am not involved. In a recent FLSA class case, a
New Supreme Court Class Action Ruling A Boon For Employers
The legal world is abuzz with the ripples created by a recent US Supreme Court decision on the statute of limitations in class actions. A recent post in the Epstein Becker Wage & Hour Defense Blog makes some interesting observations on the case and the issue of its application to wage-hour/overtime class actions. The case