Wage and Hour

Let’s revisit how to handle FMLA and FLSA for a snow day office closure.

January 16, 2024 | by Eric B. Meyer

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Back in the day, the mere promise of Cheerios and chocolate milk was all it took to dupe my two oldest kids (then three and five) to shovel the driveway for a few hours. Come to think of it, I preferred the stick to the carrot. So I probably threatened to cancel Nickelodeon and, with that, all vestiges of Yo Gabba Gabba. Either way, the children were too young and naive to ask for minimum wage or form a union. So, they shoveled snow.

Fortunately, the littlest one — salting the walkway out of frame — lacked the manual dexterity to call the NJ Department of Labor on me.

Ah, the good ‘ol days. Continue reading

Join me on Wednesday, January 17, at 1 PM for a webinar on the new DOL Independent Contractor Rules

January 15, 2024 | by Eric B. Meyer

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Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor finalized its rules on how to analyze and determine who is an employee or independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which I wrote about here.

This week, I’m co-presenting “Independent Contractor Update – How Am I to Determine if I Am Compliant?”

And all of you are invited. Continue reading

Today’s free “wage and hour 101” post is the silver lining to an employer’s $1.6M screw-up

January 12, 2024 | by Eric B. Meyer

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The Fair Labor Standards Act can be a veritable legal liability minefield for the uninitiated. Just ask several of my friends who practice law on the plaintiff’s side. Heck, it can put an employment lawyer’s kids through college, no matter on which side of the “v” they practice. 😏

Last night, I read a news release from the U.S. Department of Labor that helps put this into perspective.

Here are five things for employers to know about the DOL’s new independent contractor rule

January 10, 2024 | by Eric B. Meyer

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Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Labor finalized its rules on how to analyze and determine who is an employee or independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Continue reading

New employment laws may not just expose employers to liability; they may double it!

January 3, 2024 | by Eric B. Meyer

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Among the top employment issues that companies will need to navigate in 2024 is enforcing laws that have more recently taken effect.

281,870 reasons not to attempt a kickback scheme to avoid paying overtime

November 14, 2023 | by Eric B. Meyer

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It’s not often that I attempt to locate images for blog posts using ‘kickback’ as a search term.

But when I do, rest assured that some employer really stepped in it. Continue reading

Some drug rehabilitation center patients sued for, get this, unpaid overtime. And they may win!

September 19, 2023 | by Eric B. Meyer

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The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is the federal wage and hour law that protects all covered workers from substandard wages and oppressive working hours by requiring that employers pay employees minimum wage and overtime when they work more than 40 hours in a workweek.

Determining who counts as an employee is a fact-specific. The ultimate determination turns on the “economic reality” of the relationship between the parties involved.

The EEOC and DOL are teaming up to enforce federal employment law

September 18, 2023 | by Eric B. Meyer

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Chances are, if one of your employees complained externally about discrimination, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was all up in your company’s business. Perhaps your business has had the not-so-good fortune of undergoing a Fair Labor Standards Act or Family and Medical Leave Act audit from the U.S. Department of Labor.

Late last week, the two federal watchdogs announced a partnership. Continue reading