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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In Case You Haven’t Already Heard…The New Overtime Rule is Here

We have all been anxiously awaiting the publication of the Department of Labor’s Final Rule updating the overtime regulations since the issuance of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking back in July of 2015.  The wait is now over.  So what do you need to know about the Final Rule?

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Big changes in overtime proposed

Earlier this week, the Department of Labor announced a proposed rule that will greatly expand overtime protections. One of the significant changes is that the white collar exemptions will no longer be applicable to a large group of salaried employees–those making less than $50,440 on an annual basis.

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But we didn’t tell him to work off the clock -do we still have to pay overtime?

Many employers have been faced with this situation. An employee who is classified as non-exempt and so entitled to overtime decides to do some work from his home computer at night—maybe to score some brownie points with a hard-to-please supervisor or maybe to make up for a failure to get enough done during the workday. […]

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If an employee underreports his time—and his employer knows about it—can the employer use that conduct to get around liability for unpaid overtime under the FLSA?

What if an employee does not keep accurate time records in violation of company policy? Is an employer able to shift the blame onto the employee for any resulting unpaid overtime? In a recent decision from the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, the court found that if the employer knows that the employee is underreporting […]

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Court Refuses to Approve Settlement of FLSA Collective Action

One of the unique features of a FLSA action is that any settlement must be approved by the court. At times, this can prove challenging for parties who must not only figure out how to satisfy one another, but how to make sure the court can also get on board with the settlement. In a […]

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Eleventh Amendment Bars FLSA Claim against Supervisors at Eastern State Hospital Where Actions Inextricably Tied to Official Duties

Earlier this week, the Fourth Circuit directed the district court to dismiss a FLSA claim brought by a nurse against two of her supervisors at Eastern State Hospital, finding that there was no basis for individual liability and sovereign immunity barred the claims. Martin v. Wood, et al., Case No. 13-2283 (4th Cir. Nov. 18, […]

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The Fluctuating Workweek—A Working Option?

The general rule under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) is that non-exempt employees have to be paid for overtime at a rate of one and a half times their regular rate of pay. However, there is another option available to employers—the fluctuating workweek method, sometimes called the halftime method. If the fluctuating workweek model […]

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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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