Wage & Hour

Expert Analysis

• East Penn Verdict Is An FLSA Cautionary Tale For Employers

  

  A Pennsylvania federal jury's recent $22 million verdict against East Penn set a record for the Fair Labor Standards Act and should serve as a reminder to employers that failure to keep complete wage and hour records can exponentially increase liability exposure under the FLSA, say Benjamin Hinks and Danielle Lederman at Bowditch & Dewey.

• Pay Transparency Laws Complicate Foreign Labor Cert.

  

  State and local laws adopted to help close the gender pay gap pose challenges for U.S. companies recruiting foreign nationals, as they try to navigate a thicket of pay transparency laws without running afoul of federally regulated recruitment practices, say Stephanie Pimentel and Asha George at Berry Appleman.

• 2 Ways Calif. Justices' PAGA Ruling May Play Out

  

  In Adolph v. Uber, the California Supreme Court will soon decide whether an employee’s representative Private Attorneys General Act claims can stay in court when their individual claims go to arbitration — either exposing employers to battles in multiple forums, or affirming arbitration agreements’ ability to extinguish nonindividual claims, says Justin Peters at Carlton Fields.

• How To Navigate Class Incentive Awards After Justices' Denial

  

  Despite a growing circuit split on the permissibility of incentive awards, the U.S. Supreme Court recently declined to hear cases on the issue, meaning class action defendants must consider whether to agree to incentive awards as part of a classwide settlement and how to best structure the agreement, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

• Check Onboarding Docs To Protect Arbitration Agreements

  

  The California Court of Appeal's recent Alberto v. Cambrian Homecare decision opens a new and unexpected avenue of attack on employment arbitration agreements in California — using other employment-related agreements to render otherwise enforceable arbitration agreements unenforceable, say Morgan Forsey and Ian Michalak at Sheppard Mullin.

• Remote Work Considerations In A Post-Pandemic World

  

  Now that the public health emergency has ended, employers may reevaluate their obligations to allow remote work, as well as the extent to which they must compensate remote working expenses, though it's important to examine any requests under the Americans With Disabilities Act, say Dan Kaplan and Jacqueline Hayduk at Foley & Lardner.

• Handbook Hot Topics: Remote Work Policies

  

  Implementing a remote work policy that clearly articulates eligibility, conduct and performance expectations for remote employees can ease employers’ concerns about workers they may not see on a daily basis, says Melissa Spence at Butler Snow.

• An Overview Of Calif. Berman Hearings For Wage Disputes

  Excerpt from Practical Guidance

  

  While California's Berman hearings are pro-employee procedures that are accessible, informal and affordable mechanisms for parties filing a claim to recover unpaid wages, there are some disadvantages to the process such as delays, says David Cheng at FordHarrison.

• No Blank Space In Case Law On Handling FMLA Abuse

  

  Daniel Schwartz at Shipman & Goodwin discusses real-world case law that guides employers on how to handle suspected Family and Medical Leave Act abuse, specifically in instances where employees attended or performed in a concert while on leave — with Taylor Swift’s ongoing Eras Tour as a hypothetical backdrop.

• Water Cooler Talk: Bias Lessons From 'Partner Track'

  

  Tracey Diamond and Evan Gibbs at Troutman Pepper chat with CyberRisk Alliance's Ying Wong, about how Netflix's show "Partner Track" tackles conscious and unconscious bias at law firms, and offer some key observations for employers and their human resources departments on avoiding these biases.

• History Supports 2nd Circ. View Of FAA Transport Exemption

  

  In the circuit split over when transport workers are exempt from the Federal Arbitration Act, sparked by the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Southwest Airlines v. Saxon, the Second Circuit reached a more faithful interpretation — one supported by historical litigation and legislative context, though perhaps arrived at via the wrong route, say Joshua Wesneski and Crystal Weeks at Weil.

• Employers Need Clarity On FLSA Joint Employer Liability

  

  A judicial patchwork of multifactor tests to determine joint employment liability has led to unpredictable results, and only congressional action or enactment of a uniform standard to which courts will consistently defer can give employers the clarity needed to structure their relationships with workers, say attorneys at Seyfarth.

• Calif. Independent Contractor Lessons From Grubhub Suit

  

  California courts have been creating little in the way of clarity when it comes to the employment status of gig workers — and a recent federal court decision in Lawson v. Grubhub illustrates how status may change with the winds of litigation, offering four takeaways for businesses that rely on delivery drivers, say Esra Hudson and Marah Bragdon at Manatt.