Articles and Blogs

A recent case from the Northern District of Texas is a great reminder of a very important lesson – it’s not just the large class/collective action FLSA lawsuits that can be costly. In Black v SettlePou, Inc. (Case No.3:10-CV-1418-K), Ms. Black sued her Texas employer in federal district court, claiming that she was improperly... READ MORE

In Mitchell v. JCG Industries and Koch Foods, the plaintiffs, a class of unionized employees, alleged that their employer violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Illinois Minimum Wage Law by failing to pay them for time spent donning and doffing protective and sanitary clothing at the beginning and end of their... READ MORE

DOL Extends Minimum Wage and Overtime Protections to Home Care Workers Last week, the Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) Wage and Hour Division released a new rule extending minimum wage and overtime protections under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) to home care workers employed by third-party employers.  The new rule, which is not scheduled to... READ MORE

It doesn’t happen often but when it does it can be a very big deal – personally.  Because of how the term “employer” is broadly defined by the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) (which deals with wages, hours and overtime), it has long been possible for a manager to be considered an “employer” and... READ MORE

Discharge for Lactation Is Sex Discrimination In a recent decision, a federal appeals court held that a termination for “lactating or expressing milk” is sex discrimination under Title VII because it would clearly impose upon women “a burden that male employees need not – indeed, could not – suffer.”  The Court also ruled that... READ MORE

The Court Turns the Tide of the Epidemic For several years now there has been a veritable epidemic of class and collective actions filed against employers claiming that employees were not paid for working through their meal periods.  These cases arose frequently where employees were subject to automatic meal period deductions of 30 minutes... READ MORE

Automatic meal period deductions – A common practice Some good news for employers.  In an important victory for employers, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in Frye v. Baptist Memorial Hospital, recently affirmed the decision of the Western District of Tennessee to decertify a collective action brought under the FLSA challenging... READ MORE

The Department of Labor published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in late December aimed at giving the nation’s nearly two million home care workers minimum wage and overtime protections.  These workers have long been working  under an exemption from the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) as “companion” employees.   READ MORE