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...
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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...
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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...
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New Minimum Wage Rates Effective July 1 For Maryland And D.C.

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
06/13/2018
On July 1, 2018, new minimum wage rates went into effect for both Maryland and the District of Columbia.  All employees who do not qualify for an exemption must be paid in accordance with the new rates.  The changes provide a good opportunity for employers to audit pay practices to ensure compliance with wage and hour laws.  Defense of a pay claim comes at a substantial cost and a simple review now can serve to mitigate or even eliminate complex...
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New York City Introduces Disconnecting From Work Law

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
04/16/2018
Disconnecting from work may be à la mode.  And no, I do not mean topped with ice cream.  Rather, it appears that laws restricting or prohibiting employers from requiring employees to check work e-mails after work hours could be catching. Last year, a law in France granting employees a “right to disconnect” from work went into effect.  The law requires covered employers (companies with more than 50 employees) to ensure that their...
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No Overtime This Time... Supreme Court Holds Service Advisors Are Exempt Under The FLSA

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
04/04/2018
On April 2, 2018, the Supreme Court, with its second consideration of the same case, held in a 5-4 decision, that automobile service advisors are exempt from overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).  In Encino Motorcars, LLC v. Navarro, the Supreme Court held that service advisers fall under the FLSA exemption applicable to “any salesman, partsman, or mechanic primarily engaged in selling or servicing automobiles, trucks, or farm...
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FLSA Tip Regulations Facing Repeal By DOL

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
02/16/2018
Prior to and during my college years, I supported myself by working as a server in restaurants.  It was fast-paced, hard work with very long hours most of the time.  Dealing with hungry and demanding diners also had its mentally exhausting moments.  My restaurant job history is near and dear to my heart.  So when I learned about the Department of Justice’s proposal to remove Obama-era regulations prohibiting certain employers...
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Fourth Circuit Revives Live-in Innkeepers FLSA Claims

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
01/26/2018
A recent case decided this week by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, Balbed v Eden Park Guest House, et al., sheds some light on the somewhat confusing FLSA analysis that comes into play when an employer provides an employee on-site lodging and other benefits. At its most basic level, the FLSA requires an employer to pay an employee a minimum wage rate based on the number of hours an employee works and the remuneration...
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DOL Reissues Opinion Letters Rescinded in 2009

Darrell VanDeusen
Darrell VanDeusen
01/10/2018
Last June, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that was reinstating Wage & Hour Opinion Letters. The agency also revamped its website where Opinion Letters and other guidance live. See https://www.dol.gov/whd/opinion/guidance.htm Now, the DOL has reissued more than a dozen advisory opinion letters that had been published late in George W. Bush’s administration but then rescinded by the Obama DOL. These letters could give employers guidance...
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DOL Ends Six-Factor Intern Test; Adopts “Primary Beneficiary” Standard

Darrell VanDeusen
Darrell VanDeusen
01/08/2018
Last Friday, the United States Department of Labor made the following announcement: “On Dec. 19, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit became the fourth federal appellate court to expressly reject the U.S. Department of Labor’s six-part test for determining whether interns and students are employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The Department of Labor today clarified that going forward, the Department will conform...
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