Wage & Hour

For the second time in two weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled against a company seeking to compel individual arbitration of Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) collective action claims.  In Southwest Airlines Co. v. Saxon, the Court held that the plaintiff’s claims were exempt from arbitration under Section 1 of the Federal Arbitration…

The U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division (DOL-WHD) and National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced plans to collaborate “to enhance and maximize the enforcement of the federal laws administered between the two agencies.”  The DOL-WHD enforces the minimum wage and overtime requirements while the NLRB enforces the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).

Under…

The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) published a Final Rule on Monday November 22, 2021 raising the minimum wage for federal contractor employees to $15 an hour. The Rule takes effect on January 30, 2022 and will apply to new or updated contracts with the U.S. Government. The higher wage will apply to existing contracts…

On June 21, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced that it will propose new regulations limiting the amount of time that tipped employees, like food servers or bartenders, can perform on non-tipped work before they would be owed a full minimum wage from their employer.  The public will have until August 23, 2021…

The Colorado Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision in Nieto v. Clark’s Market, Inc., ruling that employers must pay employees for any earned but unused vacation upon termination of employment. This decision means that Colorado employers must pay employees for earned but unused vacation pay at the end of their employment.  Employers with Colorado…

The latest episode of Business Better features a discussion about earned wage access programs. We’ll discuss why the push for on-demand payroll technology has picked-up during the COVID-19 pandemic and outline issues from an employer’s viewpoint as it relates to state wage & hour laws, liabilities, and potential lawsuits.

The discussion features Meredith Dante, a…

A federal judge in Colorado has upheld the enforceability of Colorado’s pay transparency law, despite vigorous challenges from the business community. As previously reported here, in November 2020, Colorado passed sweeping new regulations regarding equal pay transparency under the state’s Equal Pay for Equal Work Act. Under that law, employers in Colorado have to…

On May 6, 2021, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued a final rule, effective immediately, withdrawing a pro-business independent contractor rule that would have made it easier for businesses to classify workers as independent contractors, rather than as employees who are entitled to minimum wage and overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act.  Earlier…

The United States Department of Labor (DOL) Wage and Hour Division just launched a new initiative called “Essential Workers, Essential Protections” that provides workers with information about the wage and hour laws that apply to them, including instructions on how to contact the DOL with questions or complaints.

In conjunction with this new initiative, the…

In another policy change that is designed to benefit workers and penalize businesses that violate the law, the federal government announced that employers who violate the overtime or minimum wage provisions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) may be liable for both the unpaid wages and an additional equal amount as liquidated damages. …