Wage and Hour

Third Circuit Employment Law 101: Independent Contractor or Employee

July 23, 2015 | by Eric B. Meyer

Back when I first started this blog, when I believed that my blogging success would translate into Aston Martins and beach homes, rather than “Can you please email me a copy of your FMLA PowerPoint?”, I had a series of “Third Circuit Employment Law 101” posts. Well, I don’t think I’ve done a “101” post for nearly 5 years. Time to break that streak.

Oh, hold on a sec, I need to respond to another PowerPoint-request email…

6 tell-tale signs, according to the DOL, that your workplace is a hot wage-and-hour mess.

July 16, 2015 | by Eric B. Meyer

In my younger days, I had a summer job in college where I clocked in at 9 and left at 5. They gave me a desk, a computer, training, a supervisor, job instruction, and a not-so-fatty paycheck. But, at least, nothing got withheld from my paycheck.

They called me an independent contractor and gave me a 1099.

Yeah, about that… Continue reading

Will the new #overtime rules be good or bad? Here’s how to be heard.

July 14, 2015 | by Eric B. Meyer

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

If you thought you knew when to pay (or not pay) an intern, think again.

July 6, 2015 | by Eric B. Meyer

A federal appellate court just blew up the U.S. Department of Labor’s spot. Allow me to explain in slightly less colloquial fashion.

Five ways for proactive employers to prepare now for the new OT rules

July 1, 2015 | by Eric B. Meyer

Hey lawyer! Drop the selfie stick and slowly back away…

Somewhere between the time that I took this selfie at the start of my FMLA/ADA session at the 2015 SHRM Annual Conference, and a few minutes later when the laptop with my PPT lost power (so, right when my ~~bowels gave out~~ heart sank and I openly wept), the US Department of Labor decided it was time to propose some new overtime rules.

What can I say? The gods of good timing really pissed in my Cheerios yesterday.

(Special shout-out to the SHRM IT support team that had me up and running again with a minute, and to the awesome SHRM audience that never lost faith in the kid).

Here’s a brief recap of the proposed OT rule change: Continue reading

Coming this Summer, FLSA independent-contractor guidance from the DOL

June 8, 2015 | by Eric B. Meyer

In March 2014, President Obama announced (here) that he would seek to revamp the Fair Labor Standards Act as it applies to overtime, “particularly for executive, administrative, and professional employees (often referred to as ‘white collar’ exemptions).” You can also read my post about the President’s announcement here.

And yet, here we are over a year later and the Department of Labor has yet to issue proposed regulations for public comment — let along the final updated regs. Continue reading

We’ve got a date, you and me, for a lunchtime wage and hour webcast

May 28, 2015 | by Eric B. Meyer

I’ll even treat. Ok, it’s free.

Seriously, if you don’t yet have plans today for lunch (or, for you in the West, breakfast, or whatever it is you do out there at 9 am), register here for a free SHRM webcast entitled “FLSA: Stay Safe Now and in the Future.”

It’ll be Wage and Hour 101, a great offering for HR generalists and others who need to learn (or brush up on) the FLSA basics~~, and don’t mind being lectured by a blogging employment lawyer in his mismatched socks and pajamas~~. In this webcast, you’ll learn best practices for employee classification, wage and hour compliance, and recordkeeping. You’ll also get advice for conducting self-audits of your company’s practices and what to expect from the Department of Labor when regulations are issued.

Just how nervous should companies be about FLSA lawsuits over employee smartphone use? (Hint: very)

May 22, 2015 | by Eric B. Meyer

“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

FAQ: When do you have to pay your employees for travel time? #FLSA

April 9, 2015 | by Eric B. Meyer

Let’s start this post off with a disclaimer:

~~People! I’m just a man; not a god.~~

I’m going to address travel time under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Many of you folks live in crazy states, like New York ~~and its crappy basketball team, which is even worse than the Sixers. I didn’t know that was possible~~, that have more lenient state versions of the Act. I’m not giving any advice about state laws or local laws. Heck, I’m not giving any legal advice at all. The blog’s general disclaimer applies with equal force to this post.

Now, let’s get to it… Continue reading

When employees cash paychecks stamped “full payment,” are their OT claims waived?

March 23, 2015 | by Eric B. Meyer

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