Wage & Hour

  • May 12, 2025

    5th Circ. Pauses DOL Overtime Rule Challenge

    The Fifth Circuit paused the U.S. Department of Labor's challenge to a Texas federal court decision vacating a rule that raised salary thresholds for considering employees overtime-exempt under federal wage law, the latest pause affecting Biden-era rules after the change in administration.

  • May 12, 2025

    BofA Says Ex-Worker Can't Be Class Rep In Unpaid PTO Suit

    A lending officer is unfit to represent a proposed class of employees who claim they were not paid for unused vacation time when they left the company, Bank of America told a California federal court, saying the former employee was ineligible to accrue vacation time.

  • May 12, 2025

    Electrical Engineering Co. To Pay $1.4M To End DOL Probe

    An electrical engineering company agreed to pay $1.4 million to more than 2,600 employees to resolve the U.S. Department of Labor's allegation that it shorted workers on overtime wages, the department said.

  • May 12, 2025

    BB&K Litigator Joins Jackson Lewis In San Diego

    Employment law firm Jackson Lewis PC is growing its West Coast ranks, bringing in a Best Best & Krieger LLP litigator as a principal in its San Diego office.

  • May 09, 2025

    NY Gov. Amends Frequency Law's Liquidated Damages Clock

    New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday approved changes to the state's highly litigated law requiring manual workers to be paid weekly, including changes to liquidated damages workers could receive from violations, as part of the fiscal year 2026 budget.

  • May 09, 2025

    Workers Behind Bars: The Push For Fair Pay In Detention And Prison

    Prisoners returning from a farm detail are escorted by a prison guard mounted on a horse that had been broken by the prisoners at Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, Louisiana. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

  • May 09, 2025

    Immigrants Find Workers' Rights Behind Bars

    Immigration detainees are bringing about a sea change in workers’ rights behind bars, chipping away at the assumption that people in civil detention or in prison fall outside the reach of minimum wage laws and protections against forced labor.

  • May 09, 2025

    Working While Caged: The Fight To End Forced Prison Labor

    Inmates battling wildfires are just the tip of the iceberg in a largely invisible workforce of more than 800,000 people who work for meager pay while incarcerated. Civil rights lawyers, advocates and some elected officials are pushing to change the legal framework that enables prison labor practices, which many trace back to American slavery and the 13th Amendment.

  • May 09, 2025

    NY Forecast: X Arbitration Fees Dispute At 2nd Circ.

    This week, the Second Circuit will consider social media platform X's attempt to reverse a lower court order requiring it to pay fees for arbitration proceedings with employees who claim they were not paid the full amount of severance they were owed. Here, Law360 looks at this and other cases on the docket in New York.

  • May 09, 2025

    Disney Nears Prelim Approval On $43M Gender Pay Bias Deal

    A California judge said Friday he intends to grant preliminary approval of a $43.25 million class action settlement in a suit alleging Disney paid thousands of women in middle management less than their male colleagues.

  • May 09, 2025

    NY Lawmakers Seek To Close Salary History Loophole

    A New York proposal to bar employers from asking job candidates about their salary expectations shows how states must keep refining and innovating pay disclosure laws as they learn lessons from real-world compliance.

  • May 09, 2025

    X Paying Millions In Severance Arbitration Losses, Atty Says

    X Corp. has lost nine out of every 10 arbitrations over former Twitter employees' claims they were shorted on severance payouts after Elon Musk's takeover of the social media company, resulting in awards ranging from $100,000 to millions of dollars, one of the workers' attorneys told a California federal judge.

  • May 09, 2025

    Souter's Clerks Remember Him As Humble, Kind And Caring

    Former clerks of retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter are heartbroken over the death of a man many of them remember more for his conscientiousness, humility, kindness and disdain for the spotlight than for his undeniable brilliance as a jurist.

  • May 09, 2025

    Hiker And 'Raconteur': Atty Recalls 50-Year Bond With Souter

    Behind a towering legal legacy was a man who loved to hike mountains, could recall details of things he read decades ago and was always there for those he cared about, a New Hampshire attorney said as he reflected on a lifelong friendship with U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter.

  • May 09, 2025

    Fisher Phillips Opens Tokyo Office Amid Regulatory Shifts

    Employer-side labor law firm Fisher Phillips has launched a Tokyo office in response to increasing client demand from American and multinational companies doing business in Japan and from Japanese companies doing business in the Americas.

  • May 09, 2025

    A Look At David Souter's Most Significant Opinions

    The retired Justice David Souter defied simple definition, viewed as a staunch conservative until he co-wrote an opinion upholding abortion rights in 1992. He did not hew to partisan lines, but reshaped the civil litigation landscape and took an unexpected stand in an extraordinarily close presidential election.

  • May 09, 2025

    Utah Liquor Workers Snag Collective Certification In OT Suit

    Package agents can move forward as a collective in their suit accusing the Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control of misclassifying them as independent contractors, a federal judge ruled, saying the state failed to show how the workers weren't similarly situated.

  • May 09, 2025

    Calif. Forecast: Petroleum Cos. $7M Wage Deal Before Court

    In the coming week, attorneys should watch for the potential initial approval of a $7.2 million deal in a proposed wage and hour class action against Marathon Refining Logistics Services and related companies. Here's a look at that case and other labor and employment matters on deck in California.

  • May 09, 2025

    Justice Souter Was An Unexpected Force Of Moderation

    Justice David Souter, who saw the high court as a moderating force apart from the messiness of politics, subverted the expectations of liberals and conservatives alike during his 19 years on the bench.

  • May 09, 2025

    Google Strikes $50M Deal To End Black Workers' Bias Suit

    Google has agreed to pay $50 million to resolve a proposed class action claiming the technology giant paid thousands of Black workers less than their white colleagues and provided them scant opportunities for advancement, according to a filing in California federal court.

  • May 09, 2025

    Retired Supreme Court Justice David Souter Dies At 85

    Retired Justice David H. Souter, who served on the U.S. Supreme Court from 1990 to 2009, has died at 85, the court announced Friday. 

  • May 08, 2025

    The Undoing Of Biden's Wage-Hour Legacy Has Begun

    Wage and hour rules issued under former President Joe Biden are already on the chopping block just more than 100 days into President Donald Trump’s second term, as the U.S. Department of Labor halts enforcement of independent contractor and federal contractor minimum wage requirements. Here, Law360 explores the status of three Biden-era rules.

  • May 08, 2025

    Listen: Prison Wages Debate Evolving With Petitions Pending

    The debate regarding whether incarcerated people who perform work are employees and thus entitled to federal wage and hour protections is set to continue to develop. Listen to Law360 Explores: Subminimum Wage Part 2.

  • May 08, 2025

    Key Question In Inmates' Wage Fight: Are They Employees?

    Despite a growing body of case law laying out a blueprint for determining whether incarcerated workers are employees — which would legally entitle them to minimum wage and other protections — there is no definitive way to classify workers behind bars.

  • May 08, 2025

    Fogo De Chao Hit With Wage, Age Bias Suit In NY

    Brazilian steakhouse chain Fogo de Chao failed to properly pay servers and forced them to share tips with owners and managers while also discriminating against a former employee for his age, according to a proposed class and collective action filed Thursday in New York federal court.

Expert Analysis

  • The 7th Circ.'s Top 10 Civil Opinions Of 2023

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    Attorneys at Jenner & Block examine the most significant decisions issued by the Seventh Circuit in 2023, and explain how they may affect issues related to antitrust, constitutional law, federal jurisdiction and more.

  • Where Justices Stand On Chevron Doctrine Post-Argument

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    Following recent oral argument at the U.S. Supreme Court, at least four justices appear to be in favor of overturning the long-standing Chevron deference, and three justices seem ready to uphold it, which means the ultimate decision may rest on Chief Justice John Roberts' vote, say Wayne D'Angelo and Zachary Lee at Kelley Drye.

  • Calif. High Court Ruling Outlines Limits On PAGA Actions

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    While the California Supreme Court’s ruling last week in Estrada v. Royalty Carpet Mills held that courts cannot dismiss Private Attorneys General Act claims on manageability grounds, the opinion also details how claims can be narrowed, providing a road map for defendants facing complex actions, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.

  • NY Pay Frequency Cases May Soon Be A Thing Of The Past

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    Two recent developments in New York state have unfurled to suggest that the high tide of frequency-of-pay lawsuits may soon recede, giving employers the upper hand when defending against threatened or pending claims, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • A Focused Statement Can Ease Employment Mediation

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    Given the widespread use of mediation in employment cases, attorneys should take steps to craft mediation statements that efficiently assist the mediator by focusing on key issues, strengths and weaknesses of a claim, which can flag key disputes and barriers to a settlement, says Darren Rumack at Klein & Cardali.

  • How To Start Applying DOL's Independent Contractor Test

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    Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor finalized a worker classification rule that helpfully includes multiple factors that employers can leverage to systematically evaluate the economic realities of working relationships, says Elizabeth Arnold and Samantha Stelman at Berkeley Research Group.

  • PAGA Turns 20: An Employer Road Map For Managing Claims

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    As California’s Private Attorneys General Act turns 20, the arbitrability of individual and representative claims remains relatively unsettled — but employers can potentially avoid litigation involving both types of claims by following guidance from the California Supreme Court’s Adolph v. Uber ruling, say attorneys at Mintz.

  • Water Cooler Talk: Insights On Noncompetes From 'The Office'

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    Troutman Pepper’s Tracey Diamond, Evan Gibbs, Constance Brewster and Jim Earle compare scenarios from “The Office” to the complex world of noncompetes and associated tax issues, as employers are becoming increasingly hesitant to look to noncompete provisions amid a potential federal ban.

  • 3 Compliance Reminders For Calif. Employers In 2024

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    As we enter into the new year, several recent updates to California employment law — including minimum wage and sick leave requirements — necessitate immediate compliance actions for employers, says Daniel Pyne at Hopkins & Carley.

  • Compliance Refresher Amid DOL Child Labor Crackdown

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    In light of the Labor Department’s recent announcement of new penalty assessment procedures for child labor law violations, Erica MacDonald and Sylvia Bokyung St. Clair at Faegre Drinker discuss what employers should know about the department’s continued focus on this issue and how to bolster compliance efforts.

  • Top 10 Employer Resolutions For 2024

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    From technological leaps to sea changes in labor policy to literal sea changes, 2024 provides opportunities for employers to face big-picture questions that will shape their business for years to come, say Allegra Lawrence-Hardy and Lisa Haldar at Lawrence & Bundy.

  • Top 10 Whistleblowing And Retaliation Events Of 2023

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and federal and state courts made 2023 another groundbreaking year for whistleblower litigation and retaliation developments, including the SEC’s massive whistleblower awards, which are likely to continue into 2024 and further incentivize individuals to submit tips, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • Navigating Issues Around NY Freelancer Pay Protection Bill

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    New York’s recently signed Freelance Isn’t Free Act was designed to protect freelance workers, but leaves business to navigate challenges such as unclear coverage, vague contract terms and potentially crushing penalties, says Richard Reibstein at Locke Lord.