Category Archives: Wage and Hour
Subscribe to Wage and Hour RSS FeedFewer Than 100 Days Until the New Overtime Rule Takes Effect: Is Your Company Ready?
On January 1, 2020, the new federal overtime rule takes effect. Other than in states with already-higher minimum salaries for exemption (which include California and, for certain types of employees, New York), employers will be required to pay most executive, administrative, and professional employees at least $684 per week ($35,568 per year). Are you ready for … Continue Reading
The New Federal Overtime Rule: What You Need to Know
The U.S. Department of Labor issued its final rule amending the overtime regulations today, without any significant changes from the proposed rule the agency issued in March 2019. Here’s the bottom line: The salary minimum for exemption as an executive, administrative, or professional employee will jump from $455 per week ($23,660 per year) to $684 … Continue Reading
EEOC Will Not Seek to Renew Component 2 (Pay and Hours Data) Requirements for Future EEO-1 Reports
New Guidance on EEO-1 Component 2 Data Submissions For Companies Involved in Corporate Transactions
Illinois Bans Salary History Inquiries
Colorado Enacts Laws Regarding Pay Equity, Salary History and Criminal Background Inquiries
EEOC Posts Forms and Guidance for New EEO-1 Reporting Requirements
Nevada Enacts Laws Regarding Paid Personal Leave, Drug Testing, and Minimum Wage
Continuing the trend of states passing increasingly progressive employment regulations, Nevada recently enacted three new laws addressing paid leave, workplace drug testing, and minimum wage. Paid Personal Leave Following in the footsteps of Maine, which recently became the first state to enact a personal leave law, SB 312 will require private employers with 50 or … Continue Reading
New York State Advances Bill That Would Allow Liens Against Employers For Unpaid Wage Claims
The New York state legislature has passed a bill that would allow employees making certain claims for unpaid wages to obtain a lien against their employers’ property for the value of the claim, inclusive of liquidated damages. If signed by Governor Cuomo, the bill would take effect 30 days after becoming law. The bill would … Continue Reading
Dems Introduce Bills to Raise Salary Minimum for Overtime Exemption
Members of the House and Senate introduced companion bills on June 11, 2019 to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to raise the minimum salary threshold for exempt executive, administrative, and professional (“EAP”) employees to north of $50,000 and to automatically update the threshold every three years. The “Restoring Overtime Pay Act of 2019” (H.R. … Continue Reading
Retail Salespeople Paid on Commission Are Entitled to Overtime and Sunday Pay, Massachusetts SJC Says
DOL Validates Independent Contractor Relationships in the On-Demand Marketplace
In an opinion letter issued April 29, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division concluded that a “virtual marketplace company” (“VMC”) that connects service providers with consumers is not the employer of the service providers. The opinion should be a welcome one not only for VMCs and businesses in the “gig economy,” … Continue Reading
Judge Orders Employers to Submit Pay Data on Revised EEO-1 Form by September 30, 2019
Massachusetts SJC Weighs in on Wage Act Class Actions and Offers of Judgment
On Friday April 12, 2019, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court confirmed that plaintiffs seeking to bring class actions asserting Massachusetts Wage Act (“Wage Act”) violations must meet the certification standards set by Massachusetts Rule of Civil Procedure 23 (“Rule 23”), and cannot avail themselves of a lower bar to class certification. In Gammella v. P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, … Continue Reading
DOL Proposes Updated Regular Rate Rules
Even at a gathering of employment lawyers, HR professionals, and compensation veterans, one of the easiest ways to clear the room is to begin a discussion on the regular rate of pay. Few other topics, even within the general subject of wage and hour law, evoke such a universal sense of bewilderment, if not unbridled … Continue Reading
N.Y. Court of Appeals Delivers Wage and Hour Victory to Home Care Industry Employers
Proposed Overtime Rule Published; Public Comment Period Open Until May 21
The U.S. Department of Labor’s proposed new overtime rule was published in the Federal Register today. As described in our earlier post, the proposed new rule would: Raise the salary minimum for exemption as an executive, administrative, or professional employee to $679 per week ($35,308 per year). Allow employers to satisfy up to 10% of the … Continue Reading
Unboxing The Proposed New Federal Overtime Rule
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court OK’s Attorneys’ Fees for Wage Act Settlements
As has been long anticipated, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court recently gave a green light to plaintiffs’ attorneys seeking a fee award under the Commonwealth’s Payment of Wages Act, even where an action ends in settlement. The Wage Act (Mass. General Laws ch. 149 §§ 148, 150) awards costs and fees when an employee “prevails” … Continue Reading
Moonlighting Police Officers Are Employees, Not Independent Contractors, Says Sixth Circuit
Proposed New Overtime Rule Headed to Executive Branch for Review
Our friends at Bloomberg Law are reporting that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has sent a proposed new federal overtime rule to the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). OIRA is part of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which has the responsibility to coordinate interagency Executive Branch review of … Continue Reading
