Showing 60 posts in FLSA.

Court Affirms Employer's Authority to Schedule Workweek under FLSA

July 31, 2014 by Ambrose V. McCall

A core management task for employers is to properly schedule the workweek for their employees. If done correctly, an employer can reduce its obligation to pay overtime wages to its hourly, non-exempt employees. But an employer that fumbles in its scheduling of the workweek for its hourly employees can sustain liability under the Fair Labor Standards Act for unpaid overtime wages, liquidated damages, and attorney's fees.  29 U.S.C. Section 201 et seq. The U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, recently affirmed a summary judgment entered in favor of an employer that permanently changed its workweek schedule for a group of employees which had the effect of decreasing the amount of overtime wages that would have otherwise been paid by the employer. The employees had filed a class action complaint. More ›

Nurse Denied FLSA Claim for Failure to Follow Employer’s Policies

November 6, 2013 by Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

An emergency department nurse did not have regularly scheduled meal breaks given the nature of her position, but was permitted to take them as work demands allowed. The hospital’s employee handbook provided that employees were to receive unpaid meal periods, the time for which would be automatically deducted from their paycheck. Employees were instructed to report in an “exception log” any meal breaks which were missed or interrupted so that they could receive payment for that time worked. The nurse did report missed meal breaks from time to time, but did not always mark them in the exception log. Further, she did not report to human resources or supervisors that she was not being compensated for time spent working while she should have been on break. More ›

Court Finds Volunteer Firefighters to be “Employees” for the Purpose of Determining Eligibility Under FMLA/FLSA

August 26, 2013 by Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

A fire department dispatcher filed suit against his employer under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) for allegedly violating his right to protected leave. The employer filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing that the employee was not eligible for leave under the FMLA because it did not employ at least 50 employees. At that time, the employer employed 41 employees, excluding 25-30 "volunteer" firefighters who were not required to respond to any emergency calls, but who were paid $15 per hour for the time they did spend responding to a call or maintaining equipment. The volunteers were not considered employees by the department, and thus, did not receive health insurance, sick or vacation time, or social security benefits, but the volunteers did have the ability to be promoted or discharged. More ›

Eighth Circuit: Undocumented Restaurant Workers were Entitled to FLSA Protection

July 30, 2013 by Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

—In a decision issued on July 29, 2013, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals became the second federal circuit to find that the Fair Labor Standards Act’s minimum wage protections extend to undocumented workers, such that those workers can file wage claims and recover damages. Addressing the issue in the shadow of a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court decision that denied similar awards for back pay to undocumented workers under the National Labor Relations Act, the panel of Eighth Circuit judges refused to extend that case’s reasoning. “The FLSA does not allow employers to exploit any employee’s immigration status,” the judges concluded, “or to profit from hiring unauthorized aliens in violation of federal law.” More ›

Collective Action Cannot Proceed Where Representative Plaintiff’s Claim Rendered Moot

April 16, 2013 by Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling in Genesis Healthcare Corp et al v. Symczyk, No. 11-1059 (U.S. Supreme Court, April 16, 2013) , holding that the employee could not maintain a collective action once her individual claims were rendered moot.  More ›

Employees Entitled to Recover Unpaid Wages, Regardless of Immigration Status

March 11, 2013 by Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

Just because an employee does not report income to the IRS or used a fake Social Security card to get his job does not mean an employer can deprive the employee of overtime pay, says the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.  More ›

New Data Shows that DOL is Actively Enforcing FLSA’s new Breastfeeding Break Requirement

February 1, 2013 by Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

Statistics released earlier this week by the Department of Labor show that the Department is taking seriously the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that employers provide employees with an opportunity for expression of breastmilk. The data — released pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act request by the Wage and Hour Laws blog —– shows that over four dozen employers were investigated for alleged wrongful practices during the first two years of the requirement’s existence. Three dozen of the investigated employers were ultimately cited for violations of the law.  These statistics underscore the need for employers to be aware of and comply with the new breastfeeding-break requirement — the Department of Labor is obviously taking the rule seriously, and employers should do the same. More ›

Mandatory bus Rides to Plant Deemed not Compensable work time Under FLSA

January 15, 2013 by Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

An engineering and construction services contractor initially offered its laborers the option of parking at a plant parking lot or participating in a park and ride program which would take the laborers directly to the plant, but then later required all employees to participate in mandatory park and ride. Prior to boarding the buses, laborers scanned their plant badge. While on the buses, the laborers were subject to the contractor's rules regarding use of cell phones, tobacco, alcohol, weapons, etc. Once they arrived at the plant, laborers would scan their badges and proceed to their work station. At the end of their shift, they boarded the buses and returned to the lot. The daily total travel time varied from 40-60 minutes.   More ›

Arbitration Agreement Containing Class Waiver Enforceable in FLSA Case

January 9, 2013 by Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

A residential care facility administrator entered into an arbitration agreement at the time she was hired which provided that she would submit any and all claims relating to her employment to arbitration. The agreement also contained a class waiver. Despite the foregoing, the administrator filed an action on behalf of herself and other current and former employees claiming that they were misclassified as “exempt” employees, but should have been entitled to overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) because they regularly worked over forty hours per week. More ›

District Court: Affordable care act does not Provide Private Cause of Action to Employee Denied Private Space for Expression of Breast Milk

July 20, 2012 by Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (i.e., the ACA or “Obamacare”) requires employers to provide their employees with comfortable opportunities to express breast milk while at work. Specifically, the ACA mandates that employers must provide employees with unpaid breaks during which to express breast milk as well as “a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion with coworkers and the public” in which to do so. 29 U.S.C. §207(r). A federal district court judge in Iowa ruled earlier this week, however, that an employee whose rights are violated under this provision may not sue her employer. Instead, she must file a claim directly with the Department of Labor, which is then charged with enforcing the rules. More ›

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