By: Alex Passantino Seyfarth Synopsis: The Department of Labor’s Wage & Hour Division announced its long-awaited proposed rule related to the FLSA’s tip provisions. The rule would implement statutory changes passed in March 2018; it also would elevate certain WHD policy guidance into regulation. The legislative changes come from the Tip Income Protection Act, which was passed as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018. As we have discussed previously, that provision…

Seyfarth Synopsis:  Furthering a recent trend, a judge in the District of Massachusetts denied a motion for conditional certification because there was no personal jurisdiction over non-Massachusetts entities with respect to the claims of employees who worked outside the state. As we have discussed previously, several courts have held that plaintiffs in nationwide FLSA collective actions must either sue in the state in which general jurisdiction exists over the defendant corporation (where it is…

By: Jinouth D. Vasquez Santos Seyfarth Synopsis: the 10th Circuit has held that the FLSA applies to workers in the marijuana industry. Looks like at least some arguments seeking to dismiss FLSA wage claims under the guise that “cannabis is illegal under federal law” have gone up in smoke. The 10th Circuit created a buzz last week in Robert Kenney v. Helix TCS, Inc., by holding that cannabis industry workers can claim overtime under the…

By: Alex Passantino Seyfarth Synopsis: The U.S. Department of Labor announced its final rule updating and revising the regulations issued under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) regarding the earnings thresholds necessary to exempt executive, administrative or professional employees from the FLSA’s minimum wage and overtime pay requirements.  The Department simultaneously announced its formal rescission of the 2016 final rule. The final rule updates the salary and compensation levels needed for workers to be exempt: The…

By: Vanessa Rogers, John Phillips, and Steve Shardonofsky Seyfarth Synopsis:  Employers were handed a big win recently when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that a day rate can satisfy the salary basis requirement for overtime exemptions under FLSA and also advocated for an award of costs to the prevailing employer.  Specifically, the Fifth Circuit held that a sufficiently-high, guaranteed day rate no less than $455 paid on a…

By: Howard M. Wexler and Lisa L. Savadjian Seyfarth Synopsis: On August 6, 2019, Acting New Jersey Governor Sheila Oliver signed into law A-2903/S-1790, described as an Act “concerning enforcement, penalties, and procedures for law regarding failure to pay wages.”  The Act makes a number of critical changes to several New Jersey civil and criminal laws, adding a variety of increased employee protections and harsher penalties.  These additions make New Jersey’s anti-wage theft law one…