Wage & Hour

  • September 03, 2024

    Retailer Says No Good Faith In Worker's Wash. Pay Range Suit

    Retailer Aaron's urged a Washington state court to throw out a job applicant's proposed class action accusing it of failing to post salary ranges in job advertisements, saying the worker's 15 other similar lawsuits show he had no interest in actually getting a job at the company.

  • September 03, 2024

    Turf Farm Can't Claim Agricultural OT Exemption, Judge Rules

    The work H-2A visa workers performed for a turf farm doesn't represent the agricultural work that would be exempt from overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act, a Missouri federal judge ruled Tuesday, handing the workers a partial win in their overtime suit.

  • September 03, 2024

    Biz Groups Fail In 2nd Try To Stop NJ Temp Worker Law

    A New Jersey law strengthening protections for temporary workers will stay in place because halting it would create more harm than good, a New Jersey federal judge ruled, turning down a renewed bid by staffing industry associations to pull the emergency brake on the law.

  • September 03, 2024

    Duane Morris Wants Bulk Of Atty's Equal Pay Suit Tossed

    Duane Morris LLP is asking a California federal court to toss most of the claims in a proposed class action alleging the firm systemically underpaid female and nonwhite attorneys, saying the attorney who filed the complaint has been fairly treated and compensated and her claims lack validity.

  • September 03, 2024

    DOL Says Independent Contractor Rule Doesn't Harm Co.

    The U.S. Department of Labor urged a New Mexico federal court to throw out a trucking company's lawsuit that seeks to block the agency's new rule for classifying independent contractors, saying the company failed to show it is affected by the regulations.

  • September 03, 2024

    Texas Landscaping Co. Pays $104K After DOL Probe

    A landscaping company in Texas paid nearly $104,000 in back wages for misclassifying dozens of workers, the U.S. Department of Labor announced Tuesday.

  • September 03, 2024

    Translation Services Co.'s $2.7M Wage Deal Nabs Final OK

    A language interpretation and translation services company will shell out $2.7 million to about 1,500 workers who accused the entity in California federal court of unpaid wages, putting to rest claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Private Attorneys General Act.

  • September 03, 2024

    Retail Worker Can't Get Class Cert. In Misclassification Suit

    A New York federal judge declined to grant class certification to a former employee in his suit accusing a discount retailer of incorrectly classifying him and other managers as overtime-exempt, saying he failed to show there was a company-wide policy requiring these workers to perform nonmanagerial work.

  • September 03, 2024

    Labor, Employment Ballot Questions May End Up In Court

    Voters this fall will consider ballot questions asking them to pass laws raising the minimum wage and expanding rights to sick leave and collective bargaining, potentially kicking off litigation that will give courts a chance to weigh in.

  • August 31, 2024

    EEOC's Sonderling Touts AI, Compliance Work As Successes

    Outgoing U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission member Keith Sonderling told Law360 in an exclusive interview that elevating the agency's visibility on the artificial intelligence front and reviving the U.S. Department of Labor's use of opinion letters rank among his top accomplishments during his nearly decadelong stint in federal government.

  • August 30, 2024

    3rd Circ. Won't Touch Pipeline Workers' Appeal In OT Suit

    The Third Circuit said Friday it doesn't have jurisdiction over a pipeline company's challenge to a discovery order limited to the issue of the arbitrability of two pipeline inspectors' wage claims, ruling that the challenged order isn't appealable under the Federal Arbitration Act.

  • August 30, 2024

    NY Forecast: Hotel Bid To Toss Workers' WARN Act Suit

    This week a New York federal judge will consider attempts from the operators of Four Seasons Hotel New York to toss a class action that claims the hotel violated state and federal law by furloughing them without notice.

  • August 30, 2024

    Ex-Employee Sues Ga. Chiropractic Co. Over OT Pay, Firing

    A former Dominguez Chiropractic employee hit the Atlanta-area chain with a Fair Labor Standards Act complaint Friday, alleging that it knowingly failed to pay her for overtime and unlawfully retaliated when she complained.

  • August 30, 2024

    Calif. Forecast: $5M Walmart COVID Deal Up For Approval

    In the coming week, attorneys should keep an eye out for the potential final approval of a $5.2 million deal in a wage and hour class action against Walmart alleging the retail giant failed to pay for time workers spent in COVID-19 health screenings. Here's a look at that case and other labor and employment matters coming up in California.

  • August 30, 2024

    State & City Roundup: Wage And Hour News To Watch

    This fall Alabama is set to increase penalties for child labor violations, and Maryland will expand its pay transparency requirements. Here, Law360 explores these and other state and local wage and hour developments attorneys should know.

  • August 30, 2024

    7th Circ. Will Look At 2-Step Cert. In Eli Lilly Age Bias Suit

    The Seventh Circuit said it would take up a midsuit appeal from Eli Lilly challenging a lower court's ruling granting collective certification to a sales representative in her age discrimination lawsuit, backpedaling from an order in July that declined to take up the dispute because of its incomplete record.

  • August 30, 2024

    Georgia Judge Won't Undo Block Of H-2A Farmworker Rule

    A Georgia federal judge denied the U.S. Department of Labor's request to reconsider a preliminary injunction blocking a new rule aimed at improving pay and conditions for foreign farmworkers, ruling that its arguments to have the order more narrowly tailored were "far too little too late."

  • August 30, 2024

    3 Tips For Navigating Tip Credit Rule's Demise

    With the Fifth Circuit striking down a federal rule on tipped wages, restaurants may be ready to rejoice, but attorneys say employers still need to check whether their state and local laws impose strict obligations and should retrain staff on servers' duties. Here, Law30 looks at three recommendations from industry attorneys as restaurants face new terrain when it comes to workers and tips.

  • August 30, 2024

    Campbell Cheats Distributors Out Of Benefits, Suit Says

    Campbell Soup Co. incorrectly classified distributors as independent contractors, causing them to lose out on certain employee benefits such as overtime wages, while stripping them of their promised authority, a proposed class action filed in New York federal court said.

  • August 29, 2024

    DOL, Miss. Fishery Reach Deal To End Suit Over Wage Probe

    The U.S. Department of Labor and a Mississippi fishery asked a federal judge on Thursday to sign off on a settlement in a suit accusing the fishery of interfering with a DOL wage investigation by threatening to physically harm workers and have them deported if they cooperated, referring to the claims in the deal as a "misunderstanding."

  • August 29, 2024

    Airline Ducks Liquidated Damages In Military Leave Suit

    A class of pilots accusing American Airlines of violating the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 by denying pay for time spent on military leave can't seek liquidated damages, given a lack of evidence that the airline knew it was breaking the law, a Pennsylvania federal judge ruled Thursday.

  • August 29, 2024

    Ga. School District Settles Wage Docking Suit With Bus Driver

    A Georgia school district has agreed to settle a lawsuit with a bus driver who alleged she was forced to work practically without pay for three months after the district docked her wages to recoup the workers' compensation benefits she had received, according to a notice filed Wednesday.

  • August 29, 2024

    5th Circ. Rules That Welding Inspector Isn't An Employee

    The Fifth Circuit refused Wednesday to revive a welding inspector's claim that a company he performed work for violated federal labor law by refusing to pay him wages and overtime, ruling in a published opinion that the inspector's claim failed since he wasn't an employee but an independent contractor.

  • August 29, 2024

    9th Circ. Won't Rethink Arbitration Denial In Fuel Pumper Suit

    The Ninth Circuit refused Thursday to grant two aviation companies' request for a full-court rehearing in their challenge to an order that declined to send an airplane fuel pumper's lawsuit over unpaid wages to arbitration, leaving in place its July ruling that the case must be litigated in court.

  • August 29, 2024

    FTC Wants Kroger's Constitution Suit To Follow Merger Case

    The Federal Trade Commission is sparring with Kroger over where, and when, to handle the grocery giant's constitutional counterattack to the FTC's merger challenge, with the agency teeing up a bid to move the company's Ohio federal court suit to Oregon, where it's defending the proposed Albertsons purchase.

Expert Analysis

  • What Employers Need To Know About New Breastfeeding Law

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    The recently enacted federal PUMP Act expands employers' existing obligations to provide breaks and space for certain employees to express breast milk, so employers should review the requirements and take steps to ensure that workers' rights are protected, say Sara Abarbanel and Katelynn Williams at Foley & Lardner.

  • 6 Labor Compliance Questions For Infrastructure Contractors

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    Eric Leonard at Wiley provides a checklist to help both traditional and nontraditional government contractors identify and understand the enhanced labor and employment compliance obligations they assume by taking on a project funded under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

  • Water Cooler Talk: Termination Lessons From 'WeCrashed'

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    Tracey Diamond and Evan Gibbs at Troutman Pepper chat with Fulton Bank’s Allison Snyder about how the show “WeCrashed” highlights pitfalls companies should avoid when terminating workers, even when the employment is at will.

  • Clean Energy Tax Credits' Wage, Apprentice Rules: Key Points

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    The Inflation Reduction Act's complicated prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements for clean energy facility construction tax credits recently took effect — and the learning curve will be more difficult for taxpayers who are not already familiar with such programs, say attorneys at Shearman.

  • New Rulings Show Job Duties Crucial To Equal Pay Act Claims

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    Two recent decisions from the Fourth and Tenth Circuits emphasize that it is an employee's actual responsibilities, and not just their job title, that are critical to a pay discrimination claim under the Equal Pay Act and can offer some lessons for employers in avoiding and defending these claims, say Fiona Ong and Lindsey White at Shawe Rosenthal.

  • Tips For Handling Employee Pay Scale Asks As Laws Expand

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    Due to the increase in pay transparency legislation, companies are being forced to get comfortable with pay-related discussions with their employees, and there are best practices employers can apply to ensure compliance with new laws and address the challenging questions that may follow, say Maria Stearns and Joanna Blake at Rutan & Tucker.

  • Eye On Compliance: Employee Biometric Data Privacy

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    Following recent high-profile developments in Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act lawsuits and an increase in related legislation proposed by other states, employers should anticipate an uptick in litigation on this issue — and several best practices can help bolster compliance, say Lisa Ackerman and Laura Stutz at Wilson Elser.

  • Water Cooler Talk: Trade Secret Lessons From 'Severance'

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    In light of the recently enacted Protecting American Intellectual Property Act, attorneys at Troutman Pepper chat with Tangibly CEO Tim Londergan about trade secret protection as it relates to the show “Severance,” which involves employees whose minds are surgically divided between their home and work lives.

  • The 7th Circ.'s Top 10 Civil Opinions Of 2022

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    Attorneys at Jenner & Block examine the most significant decisions issued by the Seventh Circuit in 2022, and explain how they may affect issues related to antitrust, the False Claims Act,​ ​federal jurisdiction and more.

  • 5 Recruiting Trends Shaping Employment Law's New Frontier

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    As remote recruiting comes under more legal scrutiny at the state and local level, U.S. employers should mitigate risk by practicing pay transparency, developing compliant background check processes, training managers on proper data storage, and more, say Jessica Shpall Rosen and Kevin Doherty at Greenwald Doherty.

  • Independent Contractor Laws Are Ignoring Economy's Evolution

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    Over the last year, federal and state approaches to independent contractor classification have demonstrated an inability to adjust to changes in the economy — save for a 12-factor test proposed in New York City, which would have balanced gig economy prosperity and worker protections, say attorneys at Greenberg Traurig.

  • How To Navigate New State Pay Transparency Laws In 2023

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    A recent wave of state pay transparency laws has confused many employers about how to recruit across state lines, so companies may consider overhauling recruiting practices, standardizing job postings and including hourly wage or salary ranges for all positions, say Sara Higgins and Michael Ryan at Foley & Lardner.

  • Wage Transparency Laws Create Labor Cert. Hurdles

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    A business-as-usual approach to labor certification amid the influx of new wage transparency laws in different jurisdictions is untenable, especially for employers with liberal remote work options and locations in numerous states, say Eleanor Pelta and Whitney Lohr at Morgan Lewis.