Continue Reading Top 10 New Year’s Resolutions For California-Based Multinational Employers
On Wednesday, December 13, Barbara Gressel, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection (BACP) provided the Chicago Bar Association’s Labor & Employment Committee with an informative presentation about the City of Chicago’s Paid Sick Leave Ordinance (in effect since July 1, 2017).
Ms. Gressel, who leads the Department’s compliance and enforcement efforts, reviewed the Ordinance’s accrual and carry over rules, as well as the provisions concerning usage caps. The remainder of her presentation involved how the Department will investigate charges, and the administrative process for formally enforcing the ordinance. Here are our takeaways:
Continue Reading Chicago’s New Sick Leave Ordinance May Leave Some Employers Feeling Ill
Medical care providers have been experiencing an uptick in Fair Labor Standards Act lawsuits based on automatically deducted meal periods. Recently, a nurse filed a collective action lawsuit against St. Luke’s Health System Corporation and various affiliates, claiming that they failed to pay nurses for work performed during meal breaks. Specifically, the nurse alleges that St. Luke’s automatically deducts 30 minutes from each shift for meal periods, assuming that its nurses are able to find a 30-minute block of time to eat. The nurse further claims that, in reality, nurses remain on duty when attempting to eat, and that their meal periods are frequently interrupted. Given the potential for large liability and the likelihood of copycat lawsuits, employers—particularly medical care providers—should examine their meal period policies to ensure the policies are compliant with the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Continue Reading Food for Thought—Does Your Automatic Meal Period Policy Violate the Law?
As discussed in a prior post, the Department of Labor’s new overtime regulations increase the weekly minimum salary threshold an employee must be paid to maintain exempt status under the FLSA’s “white collar” exemptions. The Final Rule, which becomes effective December 1, 2016, could affect up to 4.2 million employees according to DOL estimates. But an employer hoping to classify its employees as exempt need not meet the new threshold entirely through base salary. Instead, the new regulations allow employers to use bonuses, commissions, and incentive payments to satisfy up to 10% of the minimum salary threshold.
Continue Reading “Catching Up” on Exempt Status—Using Bonuses and Incentive Payments to Meet the FLSA’s New Salary Threshold
On August 1, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor and Doctors Associates Inc. (Subway Restaurants) announced a voluntary agreement formalizing their ongoing collaboration. This agreement is a first of its kind and seeks to ensure that franchise owners have the tools necessary to comply with wage and hour laws. Since 2012, Subway has made available a platform for the DOL to provide training and resources to franchisees. Despite the DOL’s efforts, other companies have reportedly been reluctant to enter into similar agreements due to fears that other government agencies will use such an agreement as evidence of a joint employer relationship. Interestingly, Subway has been collaborating with the DOL for over three years and although this collaboration has been very much in the public eye, no agency has indicated that such a relationship would make them a joint employer. The DOL hopes the fact that Subway, the world’s largest franchisor, entered into the compliance agreement will encourage other companies to follow suit. Given the various government agencies’ joint employer efforts, all companies, whether franchisors or not, should analyze their own specific circumstances before entering into a similar agreement.
Continue Reading Does Subway’s Compliance Agreement with the DOL Really Raise Joint Employer Concerns?
On May 18, 2016, the Department of Labor finalized its highly anticipated overtime rule that updates the Fair Labor Standards Act’s “white collar” exemptions (including the executive, administrative, and professional exemptions) and the highly compensated employee exemption. Most notably, the Final Rule significantly increases the minimum salary an employee must earn to qualify for these exemptions. With an effective date of December 1, 2016, companies must understand the new Final Rule and take the appropriate steps to comply.
Continue Reading DOL Issues Final Overtime Rule—Are Your Exempt Employees Still Exempt?
The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division recently released Administrator’s Interpretation No. 2016-1, examining joint employment relationships under the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act. This comes shortly after the National Labor Relations Board issued its well-publicized decision in Browning-Ferris Industries that dramatically broadened the “joint employer” concept under the National Labor Relations Act. So where does the law now stand under the FLSA?
Continue Reading DOL Becomes Latest Agency to Target Joint Employment
Think you know whether your workers should be classified as independent contractors? Take a shot at our short quiz to test your knowledge on employee misclassification!
Continue Reading Employee or Independent Contractor? Take the True/False Quiz.
So you’ve determined the employees who will be included in the layoff and determined any WARN obligations . . . now what? While its often brushed aside as an administrative exercise, employee final pay is a significant action that is full of traps for the unwary. Governed by the Texas Payday Law, failure to properly provide final pay can subject a company to civil liability of up to $1,000 per violation, and, if intent is shown, criminal liability. Fortunately, the Texas Payday Law provides guidance on how to handle a number of common questions regarding final paychecks.
Continue Reading Issuing Final Pay – RIF Series
