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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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, 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…

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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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By: Megan J. Muoio, December 31, 2014 There have been a number of notable employment law developments in 2014, and employment issues for employers will continue to be dynamic into 2015. The Equal Opportunity Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has initiated significant litigation and issued substantial regulations, while the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has pushed the envelope regarding employees’ rights issues. The Supreme Court has also been especially active in the employment law area, handing down decisions relevant to the religious rights of employers and considering issues regarding…

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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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Paula Lopez, October 16, 2014. Last week, in the case Integrity Staffing Solutions v. Busk, the U.S. Supreme Court heard argument on whether warehouse workers are entitled to overtime pay for time spent waiting to pass through employer mandated security checks after they had already clocked out for the day.  The plaintiffs were former warehouse workers in Nevada employed by Integrity Staffing Solutions, Inc. a company that provides warehouse space and staffing to Amazon.com and similar clients.  The plaintiffs worked in two warehouses in Nevada as hourly employees…

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Nicholas Fortuna, June 4, 2014. The federal courts are struggling with what type of claims may be brought as a class action after the Supreme Court decisions in Comcast v. Behrand, (2013) and Wal-Mart v. Dukes, (2011). The latest battle is in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in the matter of Jacob v. Duane Reade, Inc. regarding class certification of a wage and hour case. Wal-Mart established a stricter standard for what constitutes the required common claims within a class by mandating that the acts and/or decisions…

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