Wage and Hour Defense Blog

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 ...

By:  Kara M. Maciel

Hurricane Sandy is approaching this weekend, so employers along the East Coast should refresh themselves on the wage and hour issues arising from the possibility of missed work days in the wake of the storm.

A few brief points that all employers should be mindful of under the FLSA:

• A non-exempt employee generally does not have to be paid for weather-related absences. An employer may allow (or require) non-exempt employees to use vacation or personal leave days for such absences. But, if the employer has a collective bargaining agreement or handbook policies, the ...

By: Marisa Ratinoff

A federal judge takes on California's day of rest statutes and finds Nordstrom did not violate the California Labor Code where the plaintiffs voluntarily worked more then six days in a row.  In Mendoza v. Nordstrom, the Central District Court played it as expected by denying the claims of two former Nordstrom employees holding that while an employer may not force an employee to work more than six consecutive days pursuant to Labor Code Sections 551 and 552, the employer will not be found liable where the employee chooses to waive his or her day of rest.   Continuing the ...

By Michael Kun and Aaron Olsen

To the surprise of few, the California Supreme Court has decided to review the Court of Appeal’s decision enforcing a class action waiver in Iskanian v. CLS Transportation Los Angeles, LLC.

We wrote in detail about that decision on this blog earlier this year.

In reaching its conclusion, the Court of Appeals relied on the April 2011 United States Supreme Court’s landmark decision in AT&T Mobility, LLC v. Concepcion.  Whether the California Supreme Court will follow Concepcion or attempt to distinguish it is impossible to predict.   Unfortunately ...