On April 20, 2024, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law New York State’s Budget for fiscal year 2025. The enacted Budget includes appropriation bills and other legislation required to carry out the budget for the coming fiscal year. Among hundreds of new initiatives, the Budget includes several bills that impact New York employers
Do We Have to Pay for That? Part 3—Employee Expenses
In this blog series, we look at a variety of activities and items and discuss whether an employer has an obligation to pay for them (or the time employees spend in them). In our first installment of this series, we looked at the compensability of time spent by employees in COVID-19 vaccination, testing, and
Federal District Court Says Pre-Shift COVID Screening Time Not Compensable
In the first reported decision we’ve seen addressing the issue head on, a federal district court in California dismissed a putative collective action claim under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) seeking payment for time spent in pre-shift COVID screening.
Prior to clocking in each day, the plaintiff—a non-exempt truck driver whose job duties included
Do We Have to Pay for That? Part 2—Travel and Commute Time (in a Post-Pandemic World)
In this blog series, we look at a variety of activities and discuss whether an employer has to pay its non-exempt (i.e., overtime-eligible) employees for their time spent engaging in them. We’ll focus on federal law, but as with all wage and hour issues, applicable state and local laws must be considered as
New Federal Vaccine Rule: Wage and Hour Implications
UPDATE: On January 13, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court granted applications to stay OSHA’s Emergency Temporary Standard pending review on the merits by the Sixth Circuit, and if writs of certiorari are subsequently sought to the U.S. Supreme Court, pending the Court’s disposition of such writs. Click here to read more about the Court’s decision.
DOL’s New Opinion Letters Examine Rules on Voluntary Training Time, Travel Time
On November 3, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (“WHD”) issued new opinion letters addressing the compensability of time spent by employees attending voluntary training programs and in work-related travel.
The rules at issue only apply to non-exempt (e.g., overtime-eligible) employees. If the time is considered “hours worked” under