More than a decade ago, Epstein Becker Green (EBG) created its complimentary wage-hour app, putting federal, state, and local wage-hour laws at employers’ fingertips.
The app provides important information about overtime, overtime exemptions, minimum wages, meal periods, rest periods, on-call time, and travel time, as well as tips that employers can use to remain compliant with the law and, hopefully, avoid class action, representative action, and collective action lawsuits and government investigations.
As the laws have changed over the years, so too has EBG’s free ...
Summer in the Ocean State brings with it familiar novelties: the beach, clam cakes, and the end of the General Assembly’s legislative session. In this Insight, we summarize three employment-related bills that Rhode Island Governor Daniel McKee signed into law late last month, note bills that garnered attention but ultimately did not pass, and explain what employers should do now to remain in compliance.
New Laws
More than a decade ago, Epstein Becker Green (EBG) created its complimentary Wage & Hour Guide for Employers app, putting federal, state, and local wage-hour laws at employers’ fingertips.
The app provides important information about overtime exemptions, minimum wages, overtime, meal periods, rest periods, on-call time, travel time, and tips that employers can use to remain compliant with the law—and, hopefully, to avoid class action, representative action, and collective action lawsuits and government investigations.
As the laws have changed over the years, so, too, has EBG’s free wage-hour app, which is updated regularly to reflect those developments.
As featured in #WorkforceWednesday: This week, we look at the additional guidance the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently issued regarding caregivers.
As featured in #WorkforceWednesday: This week, we look at H.R. 4445, new federal legislation that addresses mandatory arbitration of sexual assault and harassment claims.
Years ago, Epstein Becker Green (“EBG”) created its free wage-hour app, putting federal, state, and local wage-laws at employers’ fingertips.
The app provides important information about overtime exemptions, minimum wages, overtime, meal periods, rest periods, on-call time, travel time, and tips.
As the laws have changed, so, too, has EBG’s free wage-hour app, which is updated to reflect those developments.
As featured in #WorkforceWednesday: This week, we look at the increase in mandatory vaccination policies, a new rule for tipped workers, and a Supreme Court decision against organized labor.
Employers Implement Mandatory Vaccination Policies
Mandatory vaccine policies are on the rise. A month after the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission released updated guidance on mandatory vaccination policies, an increasing number of employers have started introducing these mandates. Courts are also weighing in—a Texas District Court recently affirmed a hospital’s ...
As featured in #WorkforceWednesday: This week, federal contractors receive guidance on diversity training, while many employers are committing to diversity and inclusion anew with updated plans and time off to vote.
As featured in #WorkforceWednesday: Employers are reevaluating plans after Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reversals, and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) offers clarification on wage and hour issues related to the pandemic.
On July 20, 2020, the Wage and Hour Division (“WHD”) of the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) published new guidance for businesses reopening amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The guidance is in the form of additions to the WHD’s existing Frequently Asked Questions (“FAQs” or “Guidance”) and addresses issues arising under two leave laws—the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”), and the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”)—and wage and hour matters governed by the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”).
New FMLA FAQs
The WHD added the ...
As featured in #WorkforceWednesday: Last week, Congress passed and President Trump signed the CARES Act, a $2+ trillion stimulus law, which is the largest stimulus in U.S. history. Attorney Paul DeCamp discusses how this law could benefit certain employers during this unprecedented time in the following video interview.
Our colleagues Jeffrey H. Ruzal and Carly Baratt
Following is an excerpt:
As background, FLSA Section 7(i) exempts a retail or service establishment employee from the FLSA’s overtime pay requirements if (i) the employee’s regular rate of pay exceeds 1.5 times the federal minimum wage for ...
This Employment Law This Week® Monthly Rundown discusses the most important developments for employers in August 2019.
This episode includes:
- Increased Employee Protections for Cannabis Users
- First Opinion Letters Released Under New Wage and Hour Leadership
- New Jersey and Illinois Enact Salary History Inquiry Bans
- Deadline for New York State Anti-Harassment Training Approaches
- Tip of the Week
See below to watch the full episode – click here for story details and video.
We invite you to view Employment Law This Week® – tracking the latest developments that could ...
On April 25, a U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. ruled that the EEOC must collect Component-2 wage/hours worked data from employers by September 30, 2019. The Court also ordered EEOC to collect two pay years (2018 and either 2017 or 2019). If the EEOC choses 2017 it will also be due on September 30. If it chooses 2019, that data will be due March 31, 2020. The EEOC has until May 3 to determine which additional year will be collected.
The bottom line is that employers who file EEO-1’s now have two deadlines: May 31 for the traditional race/ethnicity and gender snapshot, and September 30 ...
Webinar – Spring/Summer 2019
Internship programs can help employers source and develop talent, but they do not come without their pitfalls. If you are an employer at a tech startup, a large financial institution, a fashion house, or something else entirely, and you plan on having interns this summer, this webinar is for you. Learn the steps for creating a legally compliant internship program.
For many years, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) used the “six-factor test” when determining whether an employee was legally considered an unpaid intern, such that the ...
Webinar - Spring/Summer 2019
Internship programs can help employers source and develop talent, but they do not come without their pitfalls. If you are an employer at a tech startup, a large financial institution, a fashion house, or something else entirely, and you plan on having interns this summer, this webinar is for you. Learn the steps for creating a legally compliant internship program.
For many years, the U.S. Department of Labor ("DOL") used the “six-factor test” when determining whether an employee was legally considered an unpaid intern, such that the intern would not ...
Featured on Employment Law This Week: The Department of Labor (“DOL”) rolls back the 80/20 rule.
The rule prohibited employers from paying the tipped minimum wage to workers whose untipped side work—such as wiping tables—accounted for more than 20 percent of their time. In the midst of a federal lawsuit challenging the rule, the DOL reissued a 2009 opinion letter that states that the agency will not limit the amount of side work a tipped employee performs, as long as that work is done “contemporaneously” with the tipped work or for a “reasonable time” before or after ...
Our colleague at Epstein Becker Green has a post on the Wage & Hour Defense Blog that will be of interest to our readers in the hospitality industry: “Supreme Court Prevents Successive Class Actions from Reviving Time-Barred Claims.”
In most wage and hour cases, each workweek gives rise to a separate claim, at least for statute of limitations purposes. Thus, an employee seeking payment for alleged off-the-clock work or an independent contractor claiming misclassification and entitlement to overtime ordinarily may seek back wages and related recovery only ...
Our colleagues Jeffrey H. Ruzal, Adriana S. Kosovych, and Judah L. Rosenblatt, attorneys in the Employment, Labor & Workforce Management practice, co-authored an article in Club Director, titled “Recent Trends in State and Local Wage and Hour Laws.”
Following is an excerpt:
As the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) appears to have relaxed its employee protective policy-making and enforcement efforts that grew during the Obama administration, increasingly states and localities have enacted their own, often more protective, employee-protective laws, rules and ...
Featured on Employment Law This Week: Under the recently signed Consolidated Appropriations Act, Congress has amended the FLSA to address tip pools. The amendment prohibits employers from keeping employees’ tips or distributing any portion of the tips to managers or supervisors. Non-tipped, back-of-the-house employees, like cooks and dishwashers, may participate in tip pools when the employer pays at least the minimum wage and does not take a tip credit. The amendment also provides for enhanced damages and penalties when employees are deprived of tips.
Watch the segment ...
Featured on Employment Law This Week: The Ninth Circuit held that certain auto service advisors were not exempt because their position is not specifically listed in the FLSA auto dealership exemption.
The 9th relied on the principle that such exemptions should be interpreted narrowly. In a 5-4 decision last week, the Supreme Court found no “textual indication” in the FLSA for narrow construction. Applying a “fair interpretation” standard instead, the Court ruled that the exemption applies to service advisors because of the nature of the work.
Watch the segment below ...
Our colleagues , at Epstein Becker Green, have a post on the Wage and Hour Defense Blog that will be of interest to many of our readers in the hospitality industry: “Labor Issues in the Gig Economy: Federal Court Concludes That GrubHub Delivery Drivers are Independent Contractors under California Law.”
Following is an excerpt:
Recently, a number of proposed class and collective action lawsuits have been filed on behalf of so-called “gig economy” workers, alleging that such workers have been misclassified as independent contractors ...
As 2017 comes to a close, recent headlines have underscored the importance of compliance and training. In this Take 5, we review major workforce management issues in 2017, and their impact, and offer critical actions that employers should consider to minimize exposure:
- Addressing Workplace Sexual Harassment in the Wake of #MeToo
- A Busy 2017 Sets the Stage for Further Wage-Hour Developments
- Your “Top Ten” Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities
- 2017: The Year of the Comprehensive Paid Leave Laws
- Efforts Continue to Strengthen Equal Pay Laws in 2017
In a potentially significant decision following the New Jersey Supreme Court’s ruling in Hargrove v. Sleepy’s, LLC, 220 N.J. 289 (2015), a New Jersey appellate panel held, in Garden State Fireworks, Inc. v. New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development (“Sleepy’s”), Docket No. A-1581-15T2, 2017 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 2468 (App. Div. Sept. 29, 2017), that part C of the “ABC” test does not require an individual to operate an independent business engaged in the same services as that provided to the putative employer to be considered an independent ...
In the new issue of Take 5, our colleagues examine important and evolving issues confronting owners, operators, and employers in the hospitality industry:
In the new issue of Take 5, our colleagues examine five employment, labor, and workforce management issues that will continue to be reviewed and remain top of mind for employers under the Trump administration:
Read the full Take 5 online or download ...In the new issue of Take 5, our colleagues examine five employment, labor, and workforce management issues that will continue to be reviewed and remain top of mind for employers under the Trump administration:
Read the full Take 5 online or download ...In the new issue of Take 5, our colleagues examine five employment, labor, and workforce management issues that will continue to be reviewed and remain top of mind for employers under the Trump administration:
Read the full Take 5 online or download ...In the new issue of Take 5, our colleagues examine five employment, labor, and workforce management issues that will continue to be reviewed and remain top of mind for employers under the Trump administration:
Read the full Take 5 online or download ...The DOL has been steadfast in expanding worker coverage under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), and the financial services industry, like most, will be affected. The DOL’s initiative began on July 6, 2015, when it published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPR”) that is expected to extend overtime protection to almost five million white-collar workers who are currently not entitled to overtime pay because they are classified as exempt. The NPR, which is expected to be finalized in July 2016, will likely more than double the salary threshold to qualify for FLSA ...
[caption id="attachment_2941" align="alignright" width="113"] Brian W. Steinbach[/caption]
In rejecting the terms of a collective action settlement in Yun v. Ippudo USA Holdings, No. 14-CV-8706 (S.D.N.Y. March 24, 2016) the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York has confirmed the significance of last year’s Second Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Cheeks v. Freeport Pancake House, Inc., 796 F.3d 199 (2015). Cheeks held that parties cannot enter into an enforceable private settlement of Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) claims without ...
The Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) permits employers to use “tip credits” to satisfy minimum wage obligations to tipped employees. Some employers use those “tip credits” to satisfy the minimum wage obligations; some do not. (And in some states, like California, they cannot do so without running afoul of state minimum wage laws.)
Many hospitality employers use “tip pools” to divide customer tips among staff. Those “tip pools” normally provide for tips to be divided among “front of the house” employees who are involved in serving customers – servers ...
We'd like to share some news with financial services industry employers: Epstein Becker Green has released a new version of its Wage & Hour Guide for Employers app, available without charge for Apple, Android, and BlackBerry devices.
Following is from our colleague Michael Kun, co-creator of the app and leader of our Wage and Hour group:
We have just updated the app, and the update is a significant one.
While the app originally included summaries of federal wage-hour laws and those for several states and the District of Columbia, the app now includes wage-hour summaries for all 50 ...
We'd like to share some news with retail employers: Epstein Becker Green has released a new version of its Wage & Hour Guide for Employers app, available without charge for Apple, Android, and BlackBerry devices.
Following is from our colleague Michael Kun, co-creator of the app and leader of our Wage and Hour group:
We have just updated the app, and the update is a significant one.
While the app originally included summaries of federal wage-hour laws and those for several states and the District of Columbia, the app now includes wage-hour summaries for all 50 states, as well as D.C ...
We'd like to share some news with hospitality employers: Epstein Becker Green has released a new version of its Wage & Hour Guide for Employers app, available without charge for Apple, Android, and BlackBerry devices.
Following is from our colleague Michael Kun, co-creator of the app and leader of our Wage and Hour group:
We have just updated the app, and the update is a significant one.
While the app originally included summaries of federal wage-hour laws and those for several states and the District of Columbia, the app now includes wage-hour summaries for all 50 states, as well as ...
Wage and hour issues are on the rise in every industry, and tech is no exception. (Especially see our post "How The Apple Class Certification Ruling Affects All Tech Companies.")
Our colleague Michael Kun, leader of our Wage and Hour group, has just announced the release of a new, expanded version of the firm's Wage & Hour Guide for Employers app. Available without charge for Apple, Android, and BlackBerry devices, the app is a handy, mobile reference guide to wage and hour regulations – now in all 50 states, plus federal, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
Following is from ...
As we’ve previously advised, make sure you are prepared for interns this summer! This summer there’s a new legal trend about interns. While wage and hour lawsuits are still hot, the new “it” trend seems to be laws that extend protection against discrimination and harassment for interns. Recently, states and cities have been adding interns to the protected individuals under their human rights laws.
Retailers have long used interns, both to provide training opportunities for the interns and to supplement their workforce over the summer months ...
By: Jeffrey M. Landes and Susan Gross Sholinsky
The presentation slides and the recording for the webinar - Creating and Maintaining a Lawful Internship Program - are now accessible for your viewing. If you would like to review, please contact Kiirsten Lederer to obtain instructions.
During this timely and important webinar, we discussed how to minimize both your organization's liability and the risk of wage and hour lawsuits. Specifically, participants walked away with answers to the following questions:
- What are the best practices for recruiting and hiring interns, and what ...
By: Jeffrey M. Landes and Susan Gross Sholinsky
The presentation slides and the recording for the webinar - Creating and Maintaining a Lawful Internship Program - are now accessible for your viewing. If you would like to review, please contact Kiirsten Lederer to obtain instructions.
During this timely and important webinar, we discussed how to minimize both your organization's liability and the risk of wage and hour lawsuits. Specifically, participants walked away with answers to the following questions:
- What are the best practices for recruiting and hiring interns, and what ...
Our colleagues Kara M. Maciel and Jordan B. Schwartz will be joined by special guest, David Sherwyn of Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration in hosting a roundtable and webinar on May 29 (1:00 p.m. ET). This interactive simulcast event will discuss strategies and tactics that employers can implement to stay ahead of the curve and ensure compliance with many of the most pressing wage and hour issues plaguing the hospitality industry.
Topics will include:
- Using the tip credit to your advantage: tip credit, tip pooling, and service charges
- Creating valid tip ...
The newest issue of Take 5 is online, featuring contributions from Michelle Capezza, Nancy Gunzenhauser, Marshall Jackson Jr., Brandon Ge, Gregg Settembrino, and myself, colleagues in our firm’s Technology, Media, and Telecommunications (TMT) Strategic Industry Group.
In this issue, we cover employment issues in “The Cloud”:
- Solving Rainy Day Problems While It's Only Partly Cloudy: Wage and Hour Concerns
- PHI in the Cloud: HIPAA, Data Privacy, and Data Security
- The Cloud, the Evolving Role of the CIO, and the Increasing Importance of Attracting ...
The April 2013 issue of Take 5 was written by David W. Garland, Chair of Epstein Becker Green's Labor and Employment Steering Committee and a Member of the Firm in the New York and Newark offices.
In it, he summarizes five recent labor and employment actions that employers should consider:
- EEOC Releases Letter Addressing Wellness Programs and Reasonable Accommodation Obligations
- Paying Interns May Not Be Enough to Stave Off Wage and Hour Claims
- House Committee Votes Out Bill Prohibiting NLRB from Acting Without a Quorum
- New York City Human Rights Law Expanded to Prohibit ...
Epstein Becker Green is pleased to announce the availability of a Wage and Hour Division Investigation Checklist, which provides financial services employers with valuable information about wage and hour investigations and audits conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). Like EBG’s first-of-its kind Wage and Hour App, which provides detailed information about federal and state laws, the Checklist is a free resource offered by EBG.
The Checklist provides step-by-step guidance on the following issues: preparation before a Wage and Hour Division investigation of the ...
By Michael Kun
As we have written before in this space, the latest wave of class actions in California is one alleging that employers have not complied with obscure requirements requiring the provision of “suitable seating” to emploees – and that employees are entitled to significant penalties as a result.
The “suitable seating” provisions are buried so deep in Wage Orders that most plaintiffs’ attorneys were not even aware of them until recently. Importantly, they do not require all employers to provide seats to all employees. Instead, they provide that employers ...
By: Kara Maciel
Hurricane Sandy is approaching this weekend, so hospitality employers along the East Coast should refresh themselves on the wage and hour issues arising from the possibility of missed work days in the wake of the storm.
A few brief points that all employers should be mindful of under the FLSA:
- A non-exempt employee generally does not have to be paid for weather-related absences. An employer may allow (or require) non-exempt employees to use vacation or personal leave days for such absences. But, if the employer has a collective bargaining agreement or handbook ...
On May 16, I co-hosted a small roundtable discussion here at the firm entitled “Employee Misclassification Issues in the Financial Services Industry: Preventive Maintenance and Proactive Strategies.” The topics included proper application of the administrative exemption from federal and state overtime laws; the nettlesome employee v. independent contractor question; and contingent workforce issues. In attendance was a healthy mix of in-house employment counsel, human resources professionals, management consultants and outside counsel. ...
By Michael Kun
As wage-and-hour litigation is more prevalent than ever, we believe that employers everywhere need easy access to federal and state wage-and-hour laws. With that in mind, we are pleased to announce that EBG’s free Wage-and-Hour app is now available in the Apple iTunes Store for downloading. The app puts federal wage-and-hour laws at your fingertips, along with those laws of many states. You can find the app by using the search term “Wage Hour” or by simply clicking here. We hope you will enjoy it.
By Michael Kun
Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division and the California Secretary of Labor announced that they were teaming up to crack down on employers who classify workers as independent contractors.
The announcement that the two groups would work together on such an initiative should not come as much of a surprise to employers. Shortly after Hilda Solis took office as the U.S. Secretary of Labor, the Wage and Hour Division announced that it would be focusing on this issue. And California has enacted a new statute that provides additional penalties in ...
By: Michael Kun
Employers who do business in California are already well aware of the wage-hour class actions that have besieged employers in virtually every industry. Class claims for misclassification of employees as exempt employees or independent contractors first began to be filed more than a decade ago, and continue to be filed on a daily basis. Claims for alleged work off-the-clock and missed meal and rest periods by non-exempt employees generally began later, but continue to be filed at an alarming rate.
Now we can add to those cases a new wave of California class actions ...
On January 14, 2011, EpsteinBeckerGreen helped one of its restaurant clients, the Brasserie Ruhlmann, obtain summary judgment “in its entirety” in a lawsuit brought by former waiters, bussers, and runners (“Plaintiffs”). Similar to many such wage and hour cases currently being litigated in the hospitality industry, Plaintiffs sought to invalidate the restaurant’s tip pool with assertions that captains and the banquet coordinator performed managerial functions and, thus, were not “tip eligible.” If Plaintiffs had succeeded, they would have also ...
EBG is holding its annual NY briefing for clients and friends on Oct. 28. This full-day program will feature a special, two-hour workshop just for employers in the hospitality and retail industries, updating the many recent and significant labor and employment law developments affecting the industry. We will provide real-world guidance on how to manage the risks your company faces from increasingly aggressive plaintiffs' lawyers and government investigators who have openly and unabashedly targeted the industry.
Topics on the workshop agenda include:
- Wage and hour class ...
Blog Editors
Recent Updates
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