Wage and Hour Defense Blog

By Michael Kun

As we have written before in this space,  the latest wave of class actions in California is one alleging that employers have not complied with obscure requirements requiring the provision of “suitable seating” to employees – and that employees are entitled to significant penalties as a result.

The “suitable seating” provisions are buried so deep in Wage Orders that most plaintiffs’ attorneys were not even aware of them until recently.  Importantly, they do not require all employers to provide seats to all employees.  Instead, they provide that employers ...

By Evan J. Spelfogel

On December 17, 2012, in Crocker v Townsend Oil, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court invalidated a settlement agreement, waiver and release to the extent it purported to release claims under the Massachusetts Wage and Hour Laws, but did not expressly include that statute by name among the claims being released. Specifically, the Court held:

We...conclude that a settlement or contract termination agreement by an employee that includes a general release, purporting to release all possible existing claims will be enforceable as to the statutorily ...

By Evan J. Spelfogel

In recent years employees have asserted claims for time allegedly worked away from their normal worksites, on their Blackberries, iPhones or personal home computers.  Until now, employers have been faced with the nearly impossible task of proving that their employees did not perform the alleged work.  The US Department of Labor and plaintiffs’ attorneys have taken advantage of the well-established obligation of employers to make and maintain accurate records of the hours worked by their non-exempt employees, and to pay for all work “suffered or ...

By Michael Kun

Employers with operations in California have become aware in recent years of an obscure provision in California Wage Orders that requires “suitable seating” for some employees.  Not surprisingly, many became aware of this provision through the great many class action lawsuits filed by plaintiffs’ counsel who also just discovered the provision.  The law on this issue is scant.  However, at least two pending cases should clarify whether and when employers must provide seats – a case against Bank of America that is currently before the Ninth Circuit Court of ...

By Michael Kun and Aaron Olsen

Following up on the California Supreme Court’s recent decision in See’s Candy v. Superior Court, a California federal court has now dismissed a time-rounding class action against H.J. Heinz Company.  And, once again, the court has relied upon the decision in our case Alonzo v. Maximus

This, of course, is more good news for employers with operations in California.  Between See’s Candy and Maximus, it will be exceedingly hard for plaintiffs to proceed with time-rounding class actions against employers who have even-handed time-rounding policies ...

By Frederick Dawkins and Douglas Weiner

Earlier this month, at the ABA Labor and Employment Law Conference, Solicitor of Labor M. Patricia Smith reaffirmed that investigating independent contractors as misclassified remains a top priority of the U.S. Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) enforcement initiatives.  The DOL will continue to work with other federal and state agencies, including the IRS, to share information and jointly investigate claims of worker misclassification.  The joint enforcement effort is certainly driven by, among other things, an interest in ...

By Elizabeth Bradley

With Election Day tomorrow, employers must be prepared to respond to employees’ request for time off to vote.  While there are no federal laws that require such leave, many states require that employees be provided with leave to vote.  Some states, such as California, Maryland and New York, require this leave to be paid.  Failing to comply with these requirements could result in financial penalties.

As illustrated below, state requirements vary greatly with regard to whether the leave must be paid, when employees are eligible for the leave, the length of the ...

By Michael Kun and Aaron Olsen

Agreeing with the recent federal district court opinion in our case Alonzo v. MAXIMUS, Inc., 832 F.Supp.2d 1122, 1126 (2011), the California Court of Appeals has confirmed in a case against See’s Candy that California employers may round employees’ time entries so long as the employer’s rounding policy does not consistently result in a failure to pay employees for time worked.

In  Alonzo, a federal district court granted summary judgment in favor of our client MAXIMUS, Inc. on the plaintiffs’ time rounding claims.  The Alonzo Court explained that ...

Kara M. Maciel, contributor to this blog and Member of the Firm at Epstein Becker Green, has released the "HR Guide for Responding to Natural Disasters."  Following is an excerpt:

Natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and tornadoes have posed unique human resource challenges for employers. While many employers are working around the clock on recovery efforts, other employers find themselves unable to function for extended periods of time because of damage or loss of utilities.

The economic effects of a natural disaster will have long-term consequences on businesses ...

By:  Elizabeth Bradley

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit recently confirmed that the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) does not prohibit an employer from modifying its workweek in order to avoid overtime costs. The Court’s ruling in Redline Energy confirms that employers are permitted to modify their workweeks as long as the change is intended to be permanent. Employers are not required to set forth a legitimate business reason for making the change and are permitted to do so solely for the purpose of reducing their overtime costs. The only requirement on ...