Tipped Employees Must Have Actual Notice of Use of Tip Credit

The tip credit permitted under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) has always presented challenges to restaurants and other employers seeking to apply it correctly. Last month, the First Circuit addressed the tip credit and the question of the type of notice which must be given to employees regarding its use in the case of […]

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Decertification of Nationwide Collective Action under FLSA Does Not Prohibit Plaintiffs from Seeking Conditional Certification of Statewide Collective Action

Recently, a court in the Eastern District of Virginia was faced with the question of the effect of another district court’s decertification of a nationwide collective action on the efforts of employees here in Virginia to bring a statewide collective action.  See Allen v. Cogent Communications, Inc., No. 1:14cv459 (August 28, 2014).  The employer Cogent […]

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Audit Associates Properly Classified as Exempt Under FLSA

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s award of summary judgment to KPMG LLP in the case of Pippins v. KPMG LLP, No. 13-889 (2d Cir. July 22, 2014), agreeing that because the plaintiffs were employed as accountants in a field of advanced science and learning, deployed knowledge customarily acquired by a […]

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Summary Judgment Affirmed for Employer Using Monday-Sunday Workweek to Calculate Overtime

Last month, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals faced the question of whether the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), an employer has to use a certain workweek to maximize overtime for employees. The Fifth Circuit ruled that there is no such obligation on an employer. Johnson v. Heckmann Water Resources, Inc. No. 13-40824 (July 14, […]

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First Circuit Reverses District Court-Per Diem Should Have Been Included in Regular Rate

Overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) is calculated based upon an employee’s regular rate of pay.  But the issue of whether that regular rate of pay includes a per diem can be a challenging one.  Just last month, the First Circuit found that a district court improperly awarded summary judgment to an employer […]

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United States Supreme Court to Weigh In on Whether Time Spent in Security Screenings is Compensable under FLSA

On Monday, the United States Supreme Court granted cert in a case involving the question of whether time spent by employees working for Amazon.com in security checks at the end of their shifts was compensable under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). In Integrity Staffing Solutions, Inc. v. Busk, No. 11-16892 (9th Cir. 2013), two […]

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SNOW DAY! Do you have to pay exempt employees?

Even here in Hampton Roads, where we rarely see much snow at all, we have had to confront the various issues that can arise in the workplace during a snowstorm.  Do we close the office? What do we do if we remain open, yet an employee doesn’t come in?  The Department of Labor issued an […]

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Outside Sales Exemption Applies to Mortgage Loan Officer

Exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) continue to be the source of much litigation in our district and across the country.   Last month, the Eastern District of Virginia tackled the outside salesperson exemption and found that a mortgage loan officer qualified for the exemption, even though she spent only about 25-30% of time […]

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Retaliation Claims–Beware the Trickle-Down Effect of the “Wishes of the King”

Generally speaking, when an employee clearly violates established policy, employers feel pretty comfortable terminating that employee, regardless of his past complaints of discrimination or about overtime, particularly where other employees have been fired for violating the same policy.  Not so fast, warns the First Circuit in Travers v. Flight Services & Systems, Inc., 2013 U.S. […]

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