Our colleague Jeffrey H. Ruzal at Epstein Becker Green has recently published a post on the Hospitality Labor and Employment Law blog that will be of interest to our readers: “U.S. DOL Announces Proposed New Rule on Tip Credits and Pooling.” Following is an excerpt: The proposed rulemaking will codify the DOL’s recent guidance that an employer may take a tip credit for any amount of time an employee in a tip-earning occupation performs related non-tipped duties that are…

In the fall of 2016, before the Obama administration increases to the minimum salary were set to go into effect (spoiler alert – they didn’t!), we wrote in this space about the challenges facing employers in addressing those expected changes: “Compliance with the New DOL Overtime Exemption Rule May Create Unexpected Challenges for Employers.” As we wrote earlier this week, the current administration’s changes are set to go into effect on January 1,…

What is considered compensable travel time pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) is not always clear or intuitive to employers, even for those who usually have a good handle on wage and hour laws. This blog post hopefully will simplify the requirements set forth in the U.S. Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) regulations and interpretive guidance to help clarify when employees must be paid for travel time. Ordinary Home-to-Work Travel Likely not a surprise…

For the past four-plus years, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) has actively pursued revisions to the compensation requirements for the executive, administrative, and professional exemptions to the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime requirement.  On September 24, 2019, DOL issued its Final Rule implementing the following changes, effective January 1, 2020: The new general minimum salary for these exemptions increases from the current level of $455 per week ($23,660 per year) to $684 per week…

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (“WHD”) continues to issue guidance at a rapid pace, releasing a new opinion letter regarding the retail or service establishment overtime exemption under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”).  The letter brings clarity to a recurring issue affecting retailers. FLSA Section 7(i) Exemption As background, FLSA Section 7(i) exempts a retail or service establishment employee from the FLSA’s overtime pay requirements if (i) the employee’s regular rate…

We have frequently written about California’s Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”), a unique statute that allows private individuals to file suit seeking “civil penalties” on behalf of themselves and other “aggrieved employees.” The only remedy available to employees in actions brought under PAGA is a civil penalty.  That is significant because civil penalties are unlike the remedies available in conventional lawsuits that are not brought under PAGA; such non-PAGA remedies can include allegedly unpaid overtime,…