Overtime

What is it exactly that President Obama wants to do to the FLSA?

March 14, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

Thumbnail image for obama.jpeg So, by now, you’ve likely read the news, first reported on Wednesday night by The New York Times reporters Michael Shear and Steven Greenhouse that “Obama Will Seek Broad Expansion of Overtime Pay”.

Messrs. Shear and Greenhouse indicated that, yesterday, President Barack Obama was to the direct the U.S. Department of Labor to “revamp its regulations to require overtime pay for several million additional fast-food managers, loan officers, computer technicians and others whom many businesses currently classify as ‘executive or professional’ employees to avoid paying them overtime.”

Possible targeted changes to the FLSA

3 minor leaguers claim Major League Baseball violated the Fair Labor Standards Act

February 14, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

When you think of minor league baseball, you may draw on movies like Bull Durham or The Rookie; long bus trips from stadium to stadium where teams play in front of small crowds for small pay.

Well, apparently, the pay may be small enough to trigger a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act

As pitchers and catchers being to report for Spring Training, Craig Calcaterra at NBC Sports HardBall Talk reports here that three minor league baseball players have initiated a putative class action in federal court against Major League Baseball, among others. In the Complaint (copy here), the plaintiffs allege violations of the FLSA stemming from the failure to pay minimum wage and overtime for working more than 40 hours per week.

Your President/CEO may have to pay your company’s wage and hour debts herself

December 13, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

Well, that certainly sucks. Even worse than the time I found out that Santa Claus MacGyver wasn’t a real person.

(My psychiatrist says that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. I’m not so sure…)

But seriously, I thought that the purpose of a limited liability company was to insulate members from the debts of the company.

After the jump, see how that rule doesn’t necessarily apply when an LLC fails to pay minimum wage or overtime…

Does the FLSA require paying employees who wait in security lines at work?

October 18, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

True story.

Back in 1999, when I was in law school in Washington DC, I went with my buddy to see The Matrix at the Uptown Theater in Cleveland Park. At the time, the Uptown was one of the best places around to watch an action flick. And what better movie to see than The Matrix — one of my top 10 movies of all time.

WTH does this have to do with the Fair Labor Standards Act?

Uh, duh…

[Humor me and click through, would ya?]

Lady Gaga may owe her former assistant a lot of unpaid OT

September 16, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

We’re talking a lot of money honey.

[Bravo, Eric. You couldn’t even make it one line without a stupid Gaga pun].

Pun free after the jump…

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GUEST POST: Wage Theft Quietly Becoming a Major Problem in Today’s Workplace

May 20, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

Today we have a guest blogger at The Employer Handbook. It’s Jesse Brar. Jesse is a Utah Employment Lawyer at Preston & Brar.

(Want to guest blog at The Employer Handbook? Email me).

House passes bill permitting employees to swap OT for comp time

May 10, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 223-204 to pass the Working Families Flexibility Act of 2013, which would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to permit employers to provide compensatory time off in lieu of monetary compensation for overtime hours worked. Presently, through the Federal Employees Flexible and Compressed Work Schedules Act, only state and federal employees may receive comp time in lieu of OT.

Specifically, the Working Families Flexibility Act authorizes compensatory time off at a rate of no less than one and one half hours for each hour of overtime worked. Under the FLSA, employers must pay OT at a rate of no less than one and one half the employee’s regular rate of pay. Republicans contended the measure would allow parents to spend more time with their children. House Democratic Whip, Steny Hoyer [D-MD] has hyperbolized that the Working Families Flexibility Act “would eliminate the 40-hour workweek as we know it.”

It should come as no shock, then, that House passage was basically along party lines. And, even if it somehow passes the Senate, the President would likely veto the bill.