By: Sara E. Fowler and Kevin M. Young Seyfarth Synopsis: Chicago’s Fair Workweek Ordinance goes into effect on July 1. The law will require covered employers to provide covered employees ten days’ notice of their work schedule. Save for certain exceptions, schedule changes after that time will require payment of “Predictability Pay” to the impacted employee. The City recently published additional guidance on the law, which includes, among other things, clarification on the impact of…

By: John G. Yslas and Phillip J. Ebsworth  Seyfarth Synopsis: In acquiring a company in bankruptcy, there is often a tendency to think this guarantees the purchaser will be “free and clear” of any liability (including 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. Ordinarily, a bankruptcy debtor’s sale of property ‘free and clear’ of…

By: Yao Li and Noah Finkel Seyfarth Synopsis: More than a decade after it was originally proposed, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage & Hour Division has finally promulgated a new rule concerning the fluctuating workweek (FWW) method of computing overtime under the FLSA. The rule now makes clear that the payment of bonuses, in addition to a salary, does not invalidate the FWW method. The U.S. Department of Labor has released its Final Rule…

By: Gena Usenheimer, Victoria Vitarelli, and Noah Finkel Seyfarth Synopsis:  By eliminating two interpretive regulations, the U.S. Department of Labor expanded the number of employers that may qualify as a “retail or service establishment” under Section 7(i)’s exemption of the Fair Labor Standards Act.  This potential expansion of coverage of Section 7(i) opens the door for more employers to classify employees as exempt. Section 7(i) of the FLSA provides an overtime exemption to…

By: Ala Salameh Employees under heightened demands to care for their health and families are using time off and sick leave in record numbers. This has left many employers, particularly those qualified as “essential businesses,” short-staffed in a phase of critical need. To fill the void, employers are contemplating a temporary reshuffle of work assignments including posting exempt employees to traditionally non-exempt work. As a result, employers must grapple with whether those employees would lose…

By: Nolan R. Theurer, Ryan McCoy, and Kyle Petersen Seyfarth Synopsis: Effective April 8, 2020, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (“FMCSA”) extended an emergency rule suspending “Hours of Service” rules that generally limit the number of hours certain truck drivers can stay on the road.  This marks the first time that the Hours of Service rules, in place since 1938, have been suspended on a national level, reflecting the need to keep…

By: Yao Li and Kevin M. Young Seyfarth Synopsis: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage & Hour Division has entered the final phase of issuing a new rule concerning the fluctuating workweek (FWW) method of compensation under the FLSA. The new rule represents the culmination of a regulatory seesaw that began with a Bush Administration proposal in 2008 that was abandoned by the Obama Administration in 2011. It was revived as a proposed rule in…