Paula Lopez, May 29, 2018. The United States Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision written by Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, resolved a split in the circuits over the enforceability of class action and collective action waivers contained in employee arbitration agreements by holding that arbitration agreements containing class action waivers are enforceable and not in violation of the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”).   The Supreme Court decision, Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, addresses appellate decision in the following three cases: NLRB v. Murphy Oil USA Inc. (No. 16-307),…

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By: Megan J. Muoio, May 1, 2017 Employers should be apprised of several pieces of legislation currently pending in Congress which would affect paid leave policies for their employees. While it is unclear whether any of these bills will be passed by both the House and the Senate and then be signed into law, it is important for employers to be aware of pending legislation as it is being debated in Congress. These bills address the issue of paid family leave, which is currently available to 12% of…

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By: Megan J. Muoio, May 26, 2016 On May 18, 2016, President Barack Obama announced that the Department of Labor will be finalizing a new rule expanding the payment of overtime wages to a larger class of workers who are not currently eligible for overtime pay under federal law. The aim of the rule change, according to the Obama Administration, is the expansion of overtime protections and the boosting of wages for middle class workers. However, the rule change may have different results. Currently, hourly workers are entitled…

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By: Megan J. Muoio, October 19, 2015 On September 19, 2015, three trade groups representing the home care industry filed an emergency application with the Supreme Court, seeking a stay of rules implemented by the Department of Labor (DOL). Those rules require home care workers who are employees of a business or outside provider to be paid minimum wages and overtime pay. Those employees, as well as home care providers hired directly by the person being served or someone on their behalf, had long been exempt from minimum…

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Diana Uhimov, July 31, 2015 The Second Circuit made two business-friendly rulings on July 2, 2015 in the closely watched proposed class action cases involving interns that claimed they should have been classified as employees.  The Court of Appeals struck down a trial court decision that determined two unpaid interns were employees covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act and New York Labor Law in the wage case, Glatt et al. v. Fox Searchlight Pictures Inc.  It also upheld a ruling that denied certification in another unpaid intern case against the Hearst Corp. The…

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Nicholas Fortuna, June 17, 2015. The Supreme Court will take another stab at defining the limits of class actions in the employment setting. On June 8, 2015 the Court granted review certification of a class of more than 3000 Iowa meat-processing employees on their wage and hour claims that resulted in a jury award of nearly $5.8 million in Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo. The justices will consider the Eighth Circuit’s 2-1 decision that the district court did not abuse its discretion by certifying the workers’ collective and…

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Diana Uhimov, April 20, 2015. After an initial denial, a New York federal judge for the Southern District of New York granted permission last week to a group of former Gawker Media LLC interns’ to notify potential class members of a proposed action through social media, namely Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.  The judge limited the approval by finding that “friending” class members on Facebook is too extreme.  The interns brought the proposed collective action, Mark et al. v. Gawker Media LLC et al., in 2013 under the Fair…

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By: Megan J. Muoio, March 9, 2015 The first quarter of 2015 has already seen a great deal of activity in the area of class action lawsuits brought by plaintiffs suing their employers under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Three recent cases demonstrate the difficulties plaintiffs have faced under the collective action certification standard of the FLSA, which requires plaintiffs who opt in to the collective action to demonstrate they are similarly situated. Although there is no statutory test in the FLSA for determining whether plaintiffs are…

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By: Megan J. Muoio, February 6, 2015 As ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft expand across the United States, many employment law scholars are carefully watching two cases in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Both cases, O’Connor v. Uber Technologies Inc. and Cotter v. Lyft Inc., are wage-and-hour class action lawsuits in which drivers have challenged the companies’ classification of them as independent contractors rather than employees. Although the class action plaintiffs have sought to represent all Uber and Lyft drivers…

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Nicholas Fortuna, November 24, 2014. Claims that employers are not properly paying their employees for over-time or otherwise complying with federal and state wage and hour laws have risen to dizzying heights. The Federal Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires employers to pay employees over-time at the rate of one and one-half their regular hourly rate for each hour worked over 40 hours in a given week. In addition, an employee is entitled to an extra hour of pay for each day that employee works 10 or more hours…

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