Wage & Hour

  • April 26, 2024

    Law360 Reveals Titans Of The Plaintiffs Bar

    In the past year, plaintiffs have won settlements and judgments for millions and billions of dollars from companies such as Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Facebook and Fox News, with many high-profile cases finally wrapping up after years of fighting. Such cases — involving over-the-top compensation packages, chemical contamination, gender discrimination and data mining — were led by attorneys whose accomplishments earned them recognition as Law360's Titans of the Plaintiffs Bar for 2024.

  • April 26, 2024

    DOL Solidifies H-2A Protections For Foreign Farmworkers

    Foreign farmworkers working in the U.S. under the H-2A temporary visa program will now have enhanced protections to advocate for better working conditions without fear of retaliation under a final U.S. Department of Labor rule unveiled Friday.

  • April 26, 2024

    AECOM, Construction Workers Settle Pay Suit In NY

    A group of construction workers told a New York federal judge Friday that they reached a settlement to end their suit claiming AECOM and one of its units paid them late and owed them overtime, saying the deal would prevent them from being left empty-handed.

  • April 26, 2024

    Ex-Mass. Trooper Handed 5 Years For No-Work OT, Tax Fraud

    A former Massachusetts state trooper convicted of stealing overtime pay, lying on his taxes and cheating to get student aid for his son was sentenced Friday by a federal judge to five years in prison for his leadership role in the sprawling overtime fraud scheme.

  • April 26, 2024

    HCA Owes OT, Break Wages, Ex-NC Hospital Worker Says

    A longtime respiratory therapist at a western North Carolina hospital accused the system's owners of manipulating employees' time sheets to remove hours they worked and automatically deducting lunch breaks workers couldn't take in a proposed collective action filed in federal court.

  • April 26, 2024

    Hospital Staffing Firm Can't Back Out Of PAGA Settlement

    An emergency services provider must follow a deal settling physicians' claims under California's Private Attorneys General Act, a state appeals panel ruled, rejecting the company's argument that a U.S. Supreme Court ruling could have forced those claims into arbitration.

  • April 26, 2024

    Flight Attendants Seek Class Status In FMLA Penalty Suit

    Former and current Southwest flight attendants have asked a California federal judge for class status in their suit claiming the airline punished workers who took family or medical leave by blocking them from improving their disciplinary records, arguing that their allegations are best resolved collectively.

  • April 26, 2024

    Trucking Firm Sues To Block Independent Contractor Rule

    A trucking company that hires owner-operators wants to stop the U.S. Department of Labor's new independent contractor rule from taking effect, saying it replaces a relatively simple test with an open-ended one that makes it unclear whether workers must be treated as employees, opening employers up to wage violations.

  • April 26, 2024

    Calif. Restaurants Pay $254K For Wage Violations

    The owner and operator of four California restaurants paid more than $254,000 in back wages, damages and fines for willfully denying 10 workers overtime and minimum wages, the U.S. Department of Labor said.

  • April 26, 2024

    Ex-BP Commodities Trader Says Co. Reneged On Bonus

    A former BP commodities trader accused the company in Texas federal court of shorting him to the tune of $6 million when it abruptly fired him in January 2022 and paid him a smaller bonus than the $11 million he expected to receive.

  • April 26, 2024

    Citizens Bank Says It Properly Factored Commissions Into OT

    A group of mortgage loan officers' claim that Citizens Bank did the math wrong when calculating their overtime can't stand, the bank said, telling a Pennsylvania federal judge that the way it considered commissions in overtime complies with state law.

  • April 26, 2024

    Calif. Forecast: Wells Fargo & Co Wants Out Of Wage Suit

    In the coming week, attorneys should keep an eye out for a potential ruling on whether to dismiss Wells Fargo & Co. from a proposed wage and hour class and collective action. Here's a look at that case and other labor and employment matters on deck in California.

  • April 26, 2024

    3 Ways The FTC's Noncompete Ban Will Affect Employers

    The Federal Trade Commission's recently finalized rule imposing a near-total ban on companies making workers sign noncompete agreements marks a seismic change in the legal landscape that will spur new trends in litigation and ease the path for workers to leave jobs they don't like, experts say. Here are three ways the new rule will affect the employment law arena.

  • April 26, 2024

    NY Forecast: 2nd Circ. Hears TD Bank Discrimination Suit

    This week, the Second Circuit will hear a former TD Bank manager's attempt to revive his suit claiming he was fired from his branch because he requested parental leave and because of his gender. Here, Law360 explores this and other cases on the docket in New York.

  • April 26, 2024

    Workers Say Minn. Food Producer Broke Wage, Migrant Laws

    A canned and frozen vegetable producer and supplier broke its promise to provide migrant farmworkers with adequate housing, and it deducted excessive amounts from their paychecks for rent and failed to pay overtime wages, according to a proposed collective action in Minnesota federal court.

  • April 26, 2024

    Parking Co. Strikes $1.4M Deal To End Pay Transparency Suit

    A parking lot company has agreed to pay a class of almost 300 job seekers $1.4 million to shutter a suit claiming it shirked a Washington pay transparency law requiring that all job postings include salary and benefit information, according to state court filings.

  • April 25, 2024

    Ex-Fracking Consultant Says Oil Co. Failed To Pay OT

    A Texas oil and gas company misclassified electric fracking consultants as independent contractors to avoid paying them overtime wages even though they usually worked 70 to 80 hours per week, a former employee claimed in a proposed collective action filed in federal court.

  • April 25, 2024

    DOL Wage Trumps Local Pay Rate For FDA Contract, Board Rules

    An appeals board has denied a nonprofit's request for increased payment for janitorial services at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's headquarters following a change to the local county's minimum wage, saying the government was only required to pay the federal prevailing wage.

  • April 25, 2024

    Calif. Appellate Panel Revives Blood Tech's Wage Claims

    A phlebotomist supported well enough her claims that a Southern California hospital failed to pay her for all hours worked, a state appeals panel ruled, flipping a trial court's decision tossing her suit.

  • April 25, 2024

    Novartis Can't Avoid Ex-Sales Rep's Gender Pay Bias Suit

    Pharmaceutical giant Novartis must face a former sales representative's lawsuit alleging her salary was over $20,000 less than a male colleague pitching the same drug, a Colorado federal judge ruled, saying it's unclear whether their responsibilities were distinct enough to explain the difference.

  • April 25, 2024

    Home Health Co. To Pay $1.6M To End DOL OT Suit

    A home health care company will pay nearly $1.6 million in back wages, damages and fines to resolve a U.S. Department of Labor lawsuit accusing the company of failing to pay workers overtime wages, according to papers filed Thursday in Pennsylvania federal court.

  • April 25, 2024

    DOL's Contractor Rule Must Stay In Place, Groups Say

    The U.S. Department of Labor's rule sorting out whether workers' are employees or independent contractors should be left in place because it tackles a lingering misclassification problem, two nonprofits said, urging a Tennessee federal court to disregard two freelance writers' challenge to the rule.

  • April 25, 2024

    Mich. Pizzeria, Drivers Ready To Reopen Mileage Cost Fight

    A pizza place in southern Michigan and its delivery drivers have asked a federal judge to revive the workers' wage-and-hour lawsuit, a month after the Sixth Circuit overturned the lower court's ruling on how the drivers should be reimbursed for their work-related car use.

  • April 25, 2024

    Impact Of NY Prenatal Leave Law Hinges On Awareness

    New York recently became the first state in the U.S. to require employers to offer paid sick time for pregnant workers to go to the doctor, and experts said that while it shouldn't be a big adjustment for employers, getting the word out about the new requirement is crucial.

  • April 25, 2024

    Nursing Agency Urges 4th Circ. To Overturn $9M Wage Ruling

    A nurse staffing agency pressed the Fourth Circuit to overturn a lower court's decision ordering the agency to pay workers $9 million in a misclassification suit brought by the U.S. Department of Labor, saying the lower court should have made the government prove the nurses were employees.

Expert Analysis

  • Beware The Risks In Laying Off Out-Of-State Remote Workers

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    Employers could run into unique legal risks when laying off remote, out-of-state employees if they're not familiar with varying state employment laws, but they can minimize the chances of potential penalties by reviewing payroll practices, applicable final paycheck laws and more, says Paul Cirner at Ogletree.

  • Why Justices' PAGA Ruling May Not Be Real Win For Cos.

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    Following the U.S. Supreme Court's Viking River decision last month, companies may temporarily cheer their reduced California Private Attorneys General Act exposure from court cases, but they may come to regret their enthusiasm as plaintiffs firms can pursue arbitration on a mass scale, says Aaron Blumenthal at Gibbs Law Group.

  • Justices Prolong Calif. Trucking Industry's Employment Woes

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent refusal to hear a trucking industry challenge to A.B. 5 — a California law that makes many truck drivers employees instead of independent contractors — only extends the struggle for a balanced approach to this issue that avoids paternalism and supports small businesses, says Gregory Feary at Scopelitis Garvin.

  • How Calif. Small Biz Can Navigate Evolving Employment Laws

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    Developments like the U.S. Supreme Court's recent arbitration decision in Viking River v. Moriana, among others, mean California small businesses should look out for five common employment-related errors and explore what they can do to reduce risk in an ever-changing landscape, say Corinne Spencer and Brianna Pearlman at Pearlman Brown.

  • Employer Duties As Pandemic And Caregiver Law Evolve

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    Recent San Francisco employment law changes recognize how the pandemic has altered many employees' caregiving responsibilities outside of work, so California employers should review their obligations — and consider providing flexible work arrangements even where not required, says Katie Collins at Weintraub Tobin.

  • New Fla. Law Is Good For Both Gig Workers And Employers

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    A recently effective Florida law, shielding companies that aid gig workers from misclassification claims, helps protect both independent contractors and their employers during times of emergency, and could be a road map for other states looking to extend similar protections, says Brett Owens at Fisher Phillips.

  • Tracking Class Certification Changes, 1 Year After TransUnion

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    In the year since the U.S. Supreme Court's TransUnion v. Ramirez decision, defense lawyers have invoked it as support for denying class certification or decertifying classes — but an analysis suggests that the main impact of the ruling has simply been closer scrutiny of class definitions by district courts, say James Morsch and Jonathan Singer at Saul Ewing.

  • Determining Which State Governs A Remote Work Agreement

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    The First Circuit's recent finding in Viscito v. National Planning that the Massachusetts Wage Act did not apply to a remote worker who mostly lived in Florida offers guidance for employers trying to determine what law applies to their out-of-state employees, says Stephen Melnick at Littler.

  • NYC Pay Transparency Law May Fail To Close Wage Gap

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    Peter Glennon at The Glennon Law Firm argues that New York City’s new pay transparency law, requiring employers to post salary information in job listings, creates a number of challenges for businesses, raising the question: Could encouraging the use of existing tools close the wage gap without the need for additional legislation?

  • How Day-Of-Rest Law Changes May Affect Ill. Employers

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    Recent amendments to Illinois' One Day Rest in Seven Act change meal break calculations and increase penalties for violations, so employers should review their meal, break and day of rest policies and consider conservative precautions to avoid accidental violations or litigation, says Darren Mungerson at Littler.

  • Understanding Georgia's New Worker Classification Law

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    A Georgia law taking effect next month amends the definition of employment for unemployment compensation purposes and may benefit certain technology companies, including ride-sharing and delivery services — as long as their independent contractor arrangements comply with the statute’s requirements, say Meredith Caiafa and Kelli Church at Morris Manning.

  • Justices' PAGA Ruling May Be Employer Win — With Caveats

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Viking River Cruises v. Moriana, holding that federal law partially preempts California's Private Attorneys General Act, may help employers send individual claims to arbitration, but key questions remain regarding statutory standing and the potential impact of another state law, says Joshua Henderson at Norton Rose.

  • Employers Must Think 3 Moves Ahead In Their Bid For Talent

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    Employers offering ever-increasing incentives to combat today’s labor shortage must not be nearsighted about tomorrow’s risk of recession, and should instead ask themselves three key questions about historical demand and future technology, say Adam Santucci and Langdon Ramsburg at McNees Wallace.