Overtime

Even Busta Rhymes Can’t Keep Settlement of Unpaid Overtime Claim Confidential

the situation An employer decides to settle a claim brought by an employee under the FLSA for unpaid overtime.  The employer would like to keep the settlement confidential—is that okay? the ruling Most likely no.  A federal court in New York recently rejected the parties’ joint motion for settlement approval that would have kept the […]

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Failing to Keep Time Records Can Come Back to Bite You

the situation An employer treats all employees it calls “managers” as exempt under the FLSA and so does not keep any time records for them.  If these employees later bring an action for unpaid overtime and a court agrees they were improperly classified as exempt, how could the employer’s inability to produce time records affect […]

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Does Time on Mobile Device Support a Claim for Unpaid Overtime?

the situation You have employees who are doing work after hours on their mobile devices. Although you have a procedure for submission of any overtime worked, these employees do not report these hours as time worked. Can they bring a claim against you for unpaid overtime under the FLSA, arguing that you should have known […]

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Applying the Administrative Exemption under the FLSA

  the situation One of the requirements of the administrative exemption of the FLSA is that an employee must have as his or her primary duty “office or non-manual work related to the management or general business operations of the employer or the employer’s customers.”  So what exactly does this mean? Do mortgage underwriters meet […]

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Duane Reade Settles FLSA Collective Action for $13.5 Million—But Can’t Make Plaintiffs’ Counsel Keep Quiet About It?

the situation A group of employees brings a FLSA collective action against an employer, claiming they were misclassified as exempt and denied overtime pay over a number of years.  After many years of litigation, the employer is able to reach a resolution, agreeing to pay the plaintiffs millions.  Of course, the lawyers who represented the […]

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Even if Staffing Company is Paying Employees, You Could be on the Hook for Unpaid Wages

the situation You go through a temporary staffing company for a certain group of employees and that company takes care of paying the employees. If the staffing company fails to properly pay these employees, what type of consequences could you face?

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Can Employers Obtain Cell Phone GPS Data In Unpaid Overtime Case?

the situation You operate a company in which employees frequently use personal cell phones for work reasons.  A group of employees joins together and files a collective action, asserting that you failed to pay them overtime as required under the FLSA.  You want to get ahold of GPS and location services from their cell phones […]

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New FLSA Test for Joint Employers in Fourth Circuit—If You Use Subcontractors, Pay Attention!

the situation A general contractor regularly engages a certain subcontractor to do drywall installation needed on its jobs.  The subcontractor works almost exclusively for the general contractor.  If the employees of the subcontractor are not paid overtime as required by the FLSA, can the general contractor face liability?

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Emotional Distress Damages Allowed in FLSA Retaliation Claim?

the situation An employee claims that not only was he not properly paid overtime owed to him, but that when he complained about it, his employer retaliated against him—can he really claim damages based on pain and suffering?

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Federal Court Blocks Overtime Changes

the situation Back in September, 21 states filed a lawsuit in federal court in Texas challenging the constitutionality of the rule changes scheduled to go into effect on December 1.  State of Nevada v. U.S. Dept. of Labor, Case No. 4:16cv00731 (E.D. Tex.).  The states (and many other business groups that ended up joining the […]

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