I have defended many claims and lawsuits involving working time, especially travel time. Employees are continually seeking innovative ways to convert their otherwise non-compensable home-to-work travel into compensable work hours. These efforts often fail, as illustrated by a recent case where Chicago police officers sought pay for transporting and storing their guns and then retrieving
Primary Duty
Horseshoe Casino Settles FLSA Class Action by Table Games Supervisors
By Mark Tabakman on
Posted in Class Actions, Exemptions
The vast majority of FLSA class actions result in settlements, as few employers, frankly, are hardy enough to go to trial and risk even more. An interesting settlement has just been announced. A putative class of casino workers and the Company have requested that a federal court grant preliminary approval to a settlement that resolves…
Comments on DOL Exemption Proposals Illustrate Great Divide
By Mark Tabakman on
Posted in Exemptions, Overtime Issues
The 60-day comment period closed on September 4, 2015 for the USDOL’s proposed (and for employers, controversial) overtime changes. There were an amazing 250,000 comments submitted and this highlights the chasm between the commenters and the fear felt by employers who dread that their businesses will be hurt (or buried) by the proposed changes. Other…
USDOL Revisions to White Collar Rules Will Issue This Month: Lots of Changes Ahead
By Mark Tabakman on
Posted in Exemptions, Overtime Issues
I have blogged before on the “eagerly” anticipated DOL revisions to the white collar exemption regulations. This initiative is designed to narrow the white collar exemptions to the Fair Labor Standards Act and would make possibly millions of additional employees overtime eligible.
The proposed rule is now expected this month, but its expected content is…
Supreme Court Ruling on Pre/Post Shift Activities: New Wine in an Old Bottle
By Mark Tabakman on
Posted in Working Time
I have lectured and presented extensively on what does and does not constitute working time, in the context of preliminary and postliminary activities. The key in such determinations is whether the activity at issue is so connected with the main/major job activity as to make the activity at issue compensable. The US Supreme Court has…