Allyn & Fortuna LLPBy: 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…
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…
By: Megan J. Muoio, May 29, 2015 The issue of the minimum wage – whether it should be increased, how, and whether increases should be centered on workers in specific industries – has been in the news lately. In this blog post, several recent developments in the area of the minimum wage in California, New York, and New Jersey will be discussed. A New Minimum Wage for California? In California, a state-wide ballot measure aims to increase the minimum wage to $15 by 2021. The ballot measure is…
Diana Uhimov, May 22, 2015 On May 10, 2015, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced that he would enact emergency measures to combat the wage theft and workplace safety hazards faced by the thousands of people who work in New York State’s nail salon industry. The new rules come after a series of New York Times articles brought to light the working conditions and potential health risks suffered by nail salon employees who are often times immigrants with a high language barrier and unaware of their rights. The articles…
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…