Two Important Wage-Related Updates

This has been an action-packed week on the wage and hour frontier.  Two important decisions at the federal level are expected to significantly impact most employers going forward. Revised Overtime Rule First, on Thursday evening, the Department of Labor (DOL) announced its long-awaited proposed rule to update the salary exemption threshold under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) from its 2004 levels.  All employees who are paid a salary falling...
read more

Virginia General Assembly Considering Bills to Allow Employees to Sue for Unpaid Wages

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
01/29/2019
Unlike many states, Virginia does not provide a statutory right for employees to sue their employer for unpaid wages.  At present, an employee is limited to filing a complaint with the state Department of Labor & Industry or filing suit for breach of contract. However, two bills introduced by Delegates from both sides of the aisle may soon change that. House Bills 1687 and 2524 would both amend Virginia Code Section 40.1-29 to allow employees...
read more

Department of Labor Rescinds 80/20 Tip Rule

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
12/07/2018
Employers in the restaurant industry are probably familiar with the tip credit, which, in general terms, allows an employer to claim a “credit” between what it pays tipped employees and the minimum wage.  The tips that such employees earn, and form the basis for the “credit,” are thought to make up for this gap. However, problems arise when tipped employees perform side work that is related, but not part of, the tipped work.  For example,...
read more

Age and Wage Issues Among Many Resolved On Election Day

As votes in yesterday’s elections continue to be tallied, there were several developments of interest to employers and to labor and employment practitioners alike. Age: The ADEA Applies To Public Sector Employers Of All Sizes First, yesterday morning, the Supreme Court announced its first decision of the 2018-19 term.  In a unanimous (8-0) ruling, the Court held in Mount Lemmon Fire District v. Guido that the Age Discrimination in Employment Act...
read more

D.C. Creates New Training And Reporting Obligations For Employers With Tipped Employees

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
11/02/2018
You may recall that earlier this year, voters in the District of Columbia passed an initiative (Initiative 77) that would have increased the minimum wage for tipped employees (who predominantly work in the restaurant, hotel, and retail service industries) incrementally up to $15.00 an hour by 2025. Recently, however, the D.C. Council changed course by passing the Tipped Wage Workers Fairness Amendment Act of 2018 (the "Act").  Most directly, the...
read more

Expanded Construction Contractor Wage Liability Takes Effect October 1, 2018

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
09/10/2018
Beginning on October 1, 2018, construction contractors doing business in Maryland may be held liable if their subcontractors fail to pay their workers.  To say that this expanded liability is significant would be an understatement. First, a bit of background.  The Maryland Wage Payment and Collection Law permits an employee who has not been paid in accordance with his or her employer’s regular pay practices to sue the employer for the wages that...
read more

Failure to Mediate Bars Claim for Unpaid Wages

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
09/07/2018
The Supreme Court of Virginia has affirmed the dismissal of a suit for unpaid wages because of the plaintiff's failure to seek mediation before filing suit.   In Primov v. Serco, Inc., the Court upheld the Circuit Court of Fairfax County's dismissal of a  complaint with prejudice upon sustaining a plea in bar for failure to comply with a contractual condition precedent before filing suit. In Primov, the plaintiff alleged that he had an employment...
read more

DOL’s Six Latest Opinion Letters Offer Useful Guidance To Employers

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
08/30/2018
After going into hibernation during the Obama Administration, opinion letters have reemerged as part of the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division’s (WHD) efforts to guide employers seeking valuable input about legal compliance and best practices.  As the DOL itself explains, these letters are “official, written opinion[s] by WHD on how a particular law applies in specific circumstances presented by the person or entity requesting the letter.” The...
read more

California Refuses To Adopt FLSA De Minimus Rule

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
08/06/2018
On July 26, 2018, California’s Supreme Court ruled in Troester v. Starbucks Corporation that the FLSA’s de minimus rule does not apply to California wage and hour claims.  The FLSA’s de minimus rule is firmly established in federal wage and hour law, and generally provides that insubstantial or insignificant periods of time beyond typical working hours that cannot be precisely recorded may be disregarded.  The Ninth Circuit, in which...
read more

Illinois Federal Court Permits Biometric Privacy Case To Proceed

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
06/18/2018
Employers of all sizes attempt to balance the need for accountability in timekeeping and having employees accurately report their hours worked with respect for employees’ privacy.  To accomplish these goals in the era of modern technology, in addition to unique computer login information for individual workstations and employer-issued computers, some employers use other state-of-the-art technology such as fingerprint scanning systems. A recent...
read more
Email Updates

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Loading