Tag Archives: Fair Labor Standards Act

The Fifth Circuit Rejects Two-Stage Conditional Certification Procedure for FLSA Collective Actions

By Greg Mersol on January 15, 2021 Posted in FLSA

Court directs application of a more rigorous and more sensible standard. Much of the current tsunami of wage and hour litigation across the country has been fueled by the use of a two-step procedure in Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) collective actions that simultaneously facilitates the bringing of such claims and puts unreasonable pressure on … Continue Reading

Second Circuit Upholds Fluctuating Work Week Despite Potential Payroll Issues

By Greg Mersol on June 24, 2020 Posted in FLSA

More than 75 years ago, just four years after the passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the United States Supreme Court recognized what has now become known as the fluctuating work week (or “FWW”) as an alternative to the strict payment of overtime at time and a half. Overnight Motor Transportation Co. v. Missel, … Continue Reading

Illinois District Court Decertifies Equal Pay Act Collective Class Involving Physicians

By Greg Mersol on April 24, 2019 Posted in FLSA

Section 16(b) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is the provision that requires those participating in a federal claim for minimum wages or overtime to opt in to the class, making Rule 23 inapplicable. The same enforcement applies to claims under the Equal Pay Act (EPA), 29 U.S.C. Section 206(d). The EPA is itself … Continue Reading

Tenth Circuit Finds Massage Therapy Students to Be Just That – Students

By Greg Mersol on November 15, 2018 Posted in FLSA, Wage and Hour

Once thought to be the next wave of wage-and-hour cases, suits involving interns and students have tended to founder because most training programs are intended to train rather than to provide employment. We’ve blogged about issues like this on several occasions in the past [May 12, 2013; July 6, 2015; Sept. 24, 2015; Dec. 12, … Continue Reading

Second Circuit Affirms Summary Judgment in Putative Internship Class

By Greg Mersol on December 12, 2017 Posted in FLSA, Wage and Hour

Four years ago, a wave of cases involving unpaid internships looked to be the next “big thing.” As those cases sputtered, however, and employers reduced or eliminated internships, the flood of anticipated litigation never fully materialized. Many targets of these claims simply settled, but a small number of these cases continued to be litigated. In 2012, … Continue Reading

Seventh Circuit Clarifies Rules for Compensating Tipped Employees Performing Non-tipped Work

By Stanley Ball on July 28, 2016 Posted in FLSA

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and most states permit restaurants to pay tipped employees a tip-credit rate, an amount less than the minimum wage with the expectation that tips will make up the difference. It goes without saying, however, that the system raises questions, such as how to pay a tipped employee when he … Continue Reading

Here’s a Tip for You, Jack – Fifth Circuit Upholds Ruling on Restaurant Credit Card Offset

By Jeffrey Vlasek on June 23, 2016 Posted in Wage and Hour

Life is filled with risky decisions. Should you take that new job? Should you put in an offer on that house that is just out of your price range? Should you really eat that last piece of cake when you’ve already had two? Companies make big gambles, too. For example, should Lionsgate really invest millions … Continue Reading

Lewis v. Epic Systems Opinion – Seventh Circuit Swimming Against the Tide on Mandatory Individual Arbitration

By John Lewis and Dustin Dow on May 31, 2016 Posted in Arbitration

In a sweeping May 26 opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit shook up the arbitral landscape and created a remarkable circuit split regarding the enforceability of arbitration agreements with class action waivers in the employment sector. In Lewis v. Epic Systems Corp., No. 15-2997, the Seventh Circuit held that an arbitration … Continue Reading

Nevada Supreme Court Finds Class of Strippers Were Employees

By Greg Mersol on December 3, 2014 Posted in FLSA, Independent Contractors, Wage and Hour

Given the extensive use of euphemisms in the exotic dancing trade, we’ll apologize in advance for any unintended puns. We’ve written on the issue of the classification of exotic dancers or strippers in the past [April 8, 2011, October 19, 2011, November 21, 2012], but the question continues to ripple through the courts. While the … Continue Reading

Conservative Kansas Joins the Liberal Ninth Circuit in Rejecting the Independent Contractor Classification of Delivery Drivers

By Todd Lebowitz on October 13, 2014 Posted in Independent Contractors

Last month we blogged about two Ninth Circuit opinions that deemed FedEx Ground drivers to be employees rather than independent contractors under California and Oregon law. Last week the Kansas Supreme Court joined them, applying Kansas law to reach the same conclusion in Craig v. FedEx Ground System, Inc. (Oct 3, 2014). While the Ninth … Continue Reading

U.S. Open Umpires and Linesmen Are Independent Contractors, Court Rules

By Todd Lebowitz on September 24, 2014 Posted in FLSA, Independent Contractors, Overtime Claims

In an opinion that disappointingly failed to take advantage of countless pun opportunities, a federal judge in New York otherwise got it right, ruling that the United States Tennis Association properly classified U.S. Open tennis officials as independent contractors, not employees. Meyer v. United States Tennis Ass’n, No. 1:11-cv-6268 (S.D.N.Y. Sep. 11, 2014). The lawsuit, … Continue Reading