Recently, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued another pro-employer decision, resolving an issue at the forefront of employment law, independent contractor classification.  In Velox Express, Inc. and Jeannie Edge, the NLRB determined that misclassification of an employee as an independent contractor alone does not violate the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Background Velox provides medical courier services and engaged drivers as independent contractors. According to the NLRB opinion, drivers collected medical specimens from customers for…

Today, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division issued a final rule regarding the threshold amount of salary necessary to exempt an employer from the obligation to pay overtime. The threshold since 2004 was $455 per week or $23,660 per year. The new rule raises that level to $684 per week or $35,568 per year. That means that if an employee is paid a salary of that amount, they may qualify to be exempt from overtime under…

Do your employees sign arbitration agreements? If so, do your arbitration agreements prevent employees from joining class actions against your company? Does your company want to start requiring arbitration agreements? If “yes” is the answer to any of these questions, some recent court decisions raise a few issues to keep in mind. Let’s first take a step back. What is an arbitration agreement? Arbitration agreements require employees to bring any claim against the company through…

If you want to avoid potential liability from a former employee, remember a key maxim: Stick to your story about why you made the employment decision. If an employer shifts rationales for its decision or tries to pile on by adding new reasons after the fact, it will likely have to explain itself to a jury or pay to settle the case. A recent decision from a federal court in Tennessee, Rikita Bonner-Gibson v. Genesis …

Sometimes employment laws can make the common person’s head spin. That certainly could be the case for a recent Fifth Circuit opinion examining the “highly compensated” regulatory exemption from the overtime requirements of the FLSA. A Thousand Dollars a Day – Is It Fair Compensation? Jeff Faludi used to practice law but began working as a consultant for U.S. Shale Solutions, an oil and gas company. He had an independent contractor agreement, under which he was paid…

The EEOC’s revised EEO-1 form, which now includes employee pay data, must be filed for covered employers for calendar years 2017 and 2018 by September 30, 2019. Remember that EEO-1 forms are required of all employers with 100 or more employees, as well as federal government contractors who have 50 or more employees and contracts of $50,000 or more. The EEOC posted updates for the new reporting requirements here. What Is Required The EEO-1…