On October 25, 2022, the Department of Labor extended the comment period for its new proposed rule regarding independent contractor status under the Fair Labor Standards Act. While the comment period was originally set to expire on November 28, 2022, interested parties will now have until December 13, 2022 to submit comments.
Continue Reading DOL Extends Comment Period for Proposed New Rule Regarding Independent Contractor Status
In light of the federal court ruling reinstating the Trump-era independent contractor regulation (discussed here), on October 13, 2022, the Department of Labor published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding independent contractor status under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Continue Reading DOL Proposes New Rule Regarding Independent Contractor Status
work·week | \ ˈwərk-ˌwēk \
noun
Perhaps one of the most important terms of art under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), an employer’s designated workweek impacts nearly every aspect of an employee’s pay – from minimum wage and overtime to application of most exemptions. Let’s break down this concept.
What is a workweek?
The FLSA regulations define workweek as “a fixed and regularly recurring period of 168 hours – seven consecutive 24-hour periods.” Contrary to popular belief, a workweek need not coincide with a calendar week, nor must it align with an employer’s hours of operation. Instead, it can begin on any day and at any hour of the day. However, the key is that once a workweek is determined, it must remain fixed regardless of the employees’ hours worked with limited exception.
Continue Reading Time Is Money: A Quick Wage-Hour Tip on … Determining and Changing Workweeks
As COVID-19 restrictions have continued to loosen or be lifted altogether, employees have gradually resumed working in the office—and traveling away from it for work-related reasons. When it comes to travel time in the employment context, the answer to the question, “Do I need to pay for that?” often has no straightforward answer. Rather, under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) regulations, whether time an employee spends traveling is compensable depends on the type of travel. In this month’s Time Is Money segment, we provide a refresher on when and how employers must pay employees for travel time.
Continue Reading Time Is Money: A Quick Wage-Hour Tip on … Travel Time Pay
Misclassifying workers as independent contractors rather than employees is a costly mistake. Among the many issues arising from misclassification is potential liability under federal and state minimum wage and overtime laws. As the laws continue to change and develop, so do the risks to contracting entities.
Federal Changes
Continue Reading Time Is Money: A Quick Wage-Hour Tip on … Independent Contractor Classification
On Friday, October, 29, 2021, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued a final rule regarding how to determine which tipped employees may receive a “tip credit” in lieu of receiving the full minimum wage directly from the employer. The new rule restores the “80/20” rule rescinded under President Trump, requiring employers to pay employees at least the minimum wage if they spend more than 20% of their time working on tasks that do not specifically generate tips such as wiping down tables, filling salt and pepper shakers, and rolling silverware into napkins, or duties referred to in the industry as “side work.” The rule goes into effect on December 31, 2021 and the change represents continuation of a pattern that has continued across administrations with Presidents adopting and rescinding the rule over the past three administrations.
Continue Reading DOL Restores 80/20 Rule for Tipped Employees
The doctrine “joint employer” liability has received significant attention in recent months, including on this blog. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, an employee may be deemed to have multiple employers—each of whom would be liable jointly for all aspects of FLSA compliance, including with regard to the payment of wages—in connection with his or her performance of the same work. During the prior administration, the U.S. DOL issued a rule intended to standardize the parameters of joint employer liability. Months later, however, a federal court invalidated a portion of the new rule, holding that it impermissibly narrowed the scope of the joint employer doctrine. And, in July 2021, the DOL announced its outright repeal of the rule—i.e., whether a business might face joint employer liability will again be governed by the multi-factor “economic reality” test subject to varying judicial interpretations.
Continue Reading Time Is Money: A Quick Wage-Hour Tip on … New York’s New Rule on Contractors’ Liability for Subcontractor Employee Wages
On June 21, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced a new proposed rule related to when an employer may take a tip credit and pay a lower minimum wage to tipped employees performing so-called tipped and non-tipped duties. The proposed rule appeared in the Federal Register on June 23, 2021 and is open
As we previously discussed, in early January 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a Final Rule regarding independent contractor status under the Fair Labor Standards Act. On May 5, 2021, in line with the policy goals of the new administration, the Department issued a Final Rule withdrawing the January Final Rule. The withdrawal
On January 29, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor announced the immediate termination of its Payroll Audit Independent Determination Program (PAID). Launched in March 2018 by the Wage and Hour Division (WHD), PAID was intended to resolve wage and hour disputes with greater expediency and at lower cost to employers. However, in the WHD’s press