Wage and Hour Defense Blog

 On June 16, the Department of Labor issued an “Administrator’s Interpretation” addressing the compensability of time spent by employees changing clothes and equipment before and after work (commonly referred to as “donning and doffing). The Interpretation reversed opinion letters on the subject  issued by the Bush administration in 2002 and 2007, and lowered the standard for employees to seek compensation for such activities.

The Interpretation addressed two issues. First, the advisory notes that Section 203(o) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which ...

vigilant employers will not merely accept the prospective intern's agreement to do volunteer work, but will apply the required legal analysis. Despite the individual's offer to work for free, the Department of Labor may reclassify the individual as an employee, and require the employer to pay back wages for all hours worked, including overtime.

A faculty comprised of Defense counsel and Plaintiffs' counsel presented strategic insights to those who gathered at the American Conference Institute's 9th National Forum on Wage Hour Claims and Class Actions. I had the pleasure of moderating a judicial panel comprised of six federal jurists who offered practitioners key insights from their experience in presiding over cases alleging violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Already besieged by wage-hour lawsuits, employers with operations in California may see more of these cases, or may be brought into wage-hour litigation where they might not have been before, as a result of a new decision by the California Supreme Court expanding the definition of "employer." The decision creates greater exposure to litigation for those companies that use the services of independent contractors, temporary agencies or other similar entities with whom the employer has a close relationship.