By: Alex Passantino, Brett Bartlett, and Noah Finkel Seyfarth Synopsis: On January 12, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor announced its Final Rule clarifying the issue of joint employment under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The Final Rule adopts a four-factor balancing test and rejects various factors that have fueled recent litigation, e.g., a worker’s economic dependence on a potential joint employer, the potential employer’s business model, and its unexercised power over the worker. Despite being…

By: Alex Passantino Seyfarth Synopsis: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage & Hour Division recently issued two opinion letters providing clarity to employers in determining (1) the proper overtime rate of pay for non-discretionary, multi-week bonuses; and (2) whether certain per-project payments are sufficient to satisfy the salary basis test required for the FLSA’s white-collar exemption. WHD has been issuing a steady stream of opinion letters on a wide variety of issues–by its own count,…

By Alex Passantino               ‘Twas the week before Christmas, in a year for the ages. So here’s our latest recap of hours and wages. The letters and laws. The regulations and cases. A year’s worth of matters that impacted workplaces.   We begin up at One First, where SCOTUS debated A trio of cases we’d call “wage-hour-related.” A split decision came down–with the usual camps– And the FAA’s light…

Seyfarth Synopsis: In the December 16, 2019, Federal Register, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage & Hour Division (WHD) published its final rule clarifying and updating the regulations governing the regular rate requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Generally, the FLSA requires overtime to be paid at a rate that is at least one and one-half times the “regular rate of pay.” Despite the significance of the regular rate to ensuring compliance with…

By Jacob Oslick Seyfarth Synopsis: Does Pennsylvania law permit the fluctuating workweek (“FWW”) method of paying overtime? The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has answered that question with a resounding “No, but…” In Chevalier v. Gen. Nutrition Centers, Inc., the Supreme Court finally tackled whether the Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act (“PMWA”) aligns with the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, and permits paying overtime to salaried non-exempt workers on a “half-time” basis (i.e., paying 50% of an employee’s…

By Robert S. Whitman, Howard M. Wexler, and Thomas F. Howley Seyfarth Synopsis: The Second Circuit held that FLSA settlements pursuant to Rule 68 Offers of Judgment do not require judicial approval.  The Court distinguished such settlements from Rule 41 stipulated dismissals, which still require approval under Cheeks v. Freeport Pancake House. Wage and hour practitioners have long understood that settlements of FLSA claims require formal approval from a court or the Department…

By: John Yslas and Carolina Nunez Seyfarth Synopsis: In acquiring a company, there is often a tendency to think an asset purchase (as opposed to a stock purchase) guarantees the purchaser will not inherit any liability (so-called “successor liability”).  This is not necessarily so with wage and hour liability, particularly if the purchaser merely continues to operate virtually the same business that was acquired.  Under the FLSA, several courts have weighed the following factors in…