Wage & Hour Litigation Blog

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California State Court Yields To FMCSA’s Preemption Determination Over Drivers’ Meal And Rest Break Claims

By Seyfarth Shaw LLP on June 18, 2019

By: Ryan McCoy and Kyle Petersen Seyfarth Synopsis: Following the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s determination in December 2018 that federal law preempts California’s meal and rest break rules, observers questioned what deference courts would give to the agency’s determination. This week, a Los Angeles Superior Court was the first California state court to apply the determination, dismissing armored truck drivers’ claims against a security company because federal hours of service rules governing commercial truck…

Wage & Hour Litigation Blog

Caveat Propraetor: Private Equity Firms Operating In California and Beyond Should Be Wary Of Expanding Labor And Employment Class Action Costs

By Seyfarth Shaw LLP on June 3, 2019

By: Holger Besch Seyfarth Synopsis: News Flash: “Caveat Propraetor” or “Proprietor Beware” might soon replace “Eureka” as the state motto of California. Okay, that’s just melodramatic hyperbole, but one can imagine that business owners in the state might feel similarly given California’s increasingly hostile business environment. Ever expanding litigation exposure, particularly with regard to labor and employment class actions, weighs heavily on the minds of businesses operating in California, and increasingly nationwide. It should come…

Wage & Hour Litigation Blog

No Buyer? No Problem. 11th Cir. Affirms Application Of Motor Carrier Act Exemption To Intrastate Drivers Even If Final Recipient Of Goods Is Undetermined At Shipment

By Seyfarth Shaw LLP on May 9, 2019

By: Jeff Glaser and Katy Smallwood Seyfarth Synopsis: The Motor Carrier Act exemption to the FLSA (“MCE”) is a powerful defense against overtime claims brought by interstate truck drivers and others involved in the interstate shipment of goods. Importantly, the exemption is not limited to drivers who cross state lines. Instead, numerous courts have made clear that the exemption applies to intrastate drivers, so long as the drivers complete one leg of a larger interstate…

Wage & Hour Litigation Blog

A Bright Day for Employers: The Supreme Court Decides In Lamps Plus That Courts Cannot Order Class Arbitration Without An Express Agreement

By Seyfarth Shaw LLP on April 24, 2019

By James M. Hlawek, Shireen Wetmore, Gena Usenheimer, and Richard L. Alfred Seyfarth Synopsis: Today the Supreme Court issued a 5-4 decision in the Lamps Plus, Inc. v. Varela class action arbitration case. The holding and rationale are important to employers because the Court decisively ruled that class arbitration “fundamentally” changes the nature of the “traditional individualized arbitration” envisioned by the Federal Arbitration Act and, for that reason, requires an express agreement…

Wage & Hour Litigation Blog

April Rules: DOL Continues Rulemaking Sprint With New Proposed Joint Employment Standard

By Seyfarth Shaw LLP on April 2, 2019

Co-authored by Alex Passantino and Kevin Young Seyfarth Synopsis: On April 1, 2019, the U.S. DOL announced a proposed rule to clarify joint employment under the FLSA. The rule would establish a four-factor balancing test for joint employer status. It also 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. This is the third proposed rule that…

Wage & Hour Litigation Blog

Proposed New White Collar Salary Threshold: $35,308

By Seyfarth Shaw LLP on March 8, 2019

By Alex Passantino Since 2015, we have been following the saga of the salary threshold for the FLSA’s white-collar exemptions (most of them, at least). In June 2015, the Department of Labor proposed a level of $50,440. When the final rule was published in May 2016, that level turned out to be $47,476. In the Fall of 2016, the regulation was enjoined, keeping the required salary level at $23,660. Then we’ve had an Administration change, a lengthy…

Wage & Hour Litigation Blog

WHD’s Joint Employer Reg Heads to White House

By Seyfarth Shaw LLP on March 1, 2019

By: Alexander Passantino On February 28, the Wage & Hour Division sent to the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs its long-awaited regulatory proposal on joint employment. Not much is known about the proposal, which was described in the Regulatory Agenda as addressing the changes in the workplace in the 60 years since most of 29 CFR 791 was issued. WHD stated that it was proposing changes “intended to provide clarity to the…

Wage & Hour Litigation Blog

Fifth Circuit Says Plaintiffs May Not Send Notice of FLSA Suit to Employees with Arbitration Agreements

By Seyfarth Shaw LLP on February 25, 2019

By: John Phillips and Steve Shardonofsky Seyfarth Synopsis: In a must-read decision and case of first impression at the federal appellate level, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held late last week that a district court may not approve sending notice of an FLSA collective action to employees who had agreed to arbitrate employment claims. This decision may curtail an alarming tactic in FLSA litigation in which plaintiffs’ counsel use the collective-action conditional certification procedure…

Wage & Hour Litigation Blog

Looking Ahead to Exhibit A: Tips For Drafting Job Descriptions for Exempt Roles

By Seyfarth Shaw LLP on February 4, 2019

By Kevin M. Young and Renate M. Walker Seyfarth Synopsis: Each year, droves of employers are hauled into court to defend lawsuits in which salaried-exempt employees claim that, because of their job duties, they should have been classified as non-exempt and paid overtime. While a written job description alone cannot defeat such a claim, it will nearly always be one of the primary exhibits in the case. In this post, we offer a few tips…

Wage & Hour Litigation Blog

A Zombie Tip Credit Rule: District Court Tries to Bring the 80/20 Guidance Back From the Dead

By Seyfarth Shaw LLP on January 17, 2019

By Abigail Cahak and Noah Finkel Seyfarth Synopsis: Even though the DOL abandoned its 20% tip credit rule in November 2018, one federal district judge has refused to defer to the agency, opting to defer to the old guidance instead. As employers using the tip credit know full well, an individual employed in dual occupations–one tipped and one not–cannot be paid using the tip credit for hours worked in the non-tipped occupation. FLSA regulations clarify,…

Wage & Hour Litigation Blog

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California State Court Yields To FMCSA’s Preemption Determination Over Drivers’ Meal And Rest Break Claims

Caveat Propraetor: Private Equity Firms Operating In California and Beyond Should Be Wary Of Expanding Labor And Employment Class Action Costs

No Buyer? No Problem. 11th Cir. Affirms Application Of Motor Carrier Act Exemption To Intrastate Drivers Even If Final Recipient Of Goods Is Undetermined At Shipment

A Bright Day for Employers: The Supreme Court Decides In Lamps Plus That Courts Cannot Order Class Arbitration Without An Express Agreement

April Rules: DOL Continues Rulemaking Sprint With New Proposed Joint Employment Standard

Proposed New White Collar Salary Threshold: $35,308

WHD’s Joint Employer Reg Heads to White House

Fifth Circuit Says Plaintiffs May Not Send Notice of FLSA Suit to Employees with Arbitration Agreements

Looking Ahead to Exhibit A: Tips For Drafting Job Descriptions for Exempt Roles

A Zombie Tip Credit Rule: District Court Tries to Bring the 80/20 Guidance Back From the Dead

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