You know, being a client of the Blogger King has its perks. (That’s me. I’m the Blogger King). When I’m not litigating and counseling on employment-related issues, I’m taking blog post requests and emailing weekly updates of HR goodies that don’t make it onto the blog.
But, with my DropBox and Pocket chock full of recent cases, I’ll summarize the recent biggies.
How was your Thanksgiving? Survive Black Friday? (In case you’re wondering about a gift for me, no. Yes. Heck, yes (asking for a friend)).
Me? I almost left my kids on the North Pole as I counted the minutes until Monday. But, overall, I enjoyed a few days off.
Now, it’s back to work. *** Sips mai tai *** So, let’s talk about the Fair Labor Standards Act. As wage and hour claims generally continue to spike, I’m going to get into the weeds a bit and talk about meal breaks. Specifically, when do non-exempt employees get paid for meal breaks?
Last Friday, I had the honor and privilege of presenting at the Philadelphia Association of Paralegals’ Education Conference. The class was essentially a primer on the basics of employment law, during which I emphasized both the types of claims on which paralegals may assist clients, and the employment-law issues that the audience may encounter for themselvesat work.
We explored discrimination, disability accommodations, family and medical leave. And then we got to the Fair Labor Standards Act.
You know those proposed overtime rules from the Department of Labor. The ones where the salary-level for the white collar exemption will jump from $23,660 per year to over $50,ooo in 2016. Well, check this out. Continue reading
A lot has been written over the past week few weeks since the Department of Labor announced its proposed change to the overtime rules — most of which has fewer typos and less snark than my drivel.
Continue reading
“Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.”
(I’m pretty sure that was from Ferris Bueller)
Yesterday, in the Wall Street Journal, I read Lauren Weber’s article “Can You Sue the Boss for Making You Answer Late-Night Email?” And the answer is yes, provided that you are a non-exempt employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act and the time you spend answering that email is more than a few minutes a week. It’s no different than when an employee checks company email at work. Work is work. Employees get paid to work. Continue reading
I’ve gotta hand it to the company in this recent federal appellate court opinion. The company almost — soooooo close — avoided several claims for unpaid overtime.
Let me set the stage for you. So, there I was wearing nothing but feathers and a coy smile. Back in 2011, the U.S. Department of Labor began investigating a complaint that a marketing company had misclassified some employees and failed to pay overtime. During the DOL investigation, the company sent the employees checks for back wages. Each check bore the following note in fine print:
“full payment from Actinlink [sic] or [sic] wages earned, including minimum wage and overtime, up to the date of the check.”
A bunch of employees deposited these checks. So, the marketing company claimed that, voila, those employees had agreed to waive their right to any additional back pay. Continue reading
More specifically, as posed in this recent federal court decision, “when an employer requires an employee to attend alcohol counseling and treatment sessions as a condition of keeping her job, must the employer compensate the employee for the time she spends in counseling and treatment?”
The three plaintiffs, NYPD police offers, identified three aspect of counseling that they claim they were required to undertake: (1) inpatient counseling at a residential treatment facility (with respect to one plaintiff); (2) outpatient counseling during regularly-scheduled work hours; and (3) outpatient counseling after regularly scheduled work hours. All three were paid their regular wage while in counseling. However, none of these employees received overtime.
More after the jump…
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