Articles Posted in Wage & Hour Law

Employee entitled to overtime payLast week, the United States Supreme Court ruled that, no matter how much an employee earns per year, the primary exemptions to federal overtime pay requirement do not apply unless the employee is guaranteed to receive at least $455 per week for any week in which he or she performed any work for the employer.

Michael Hewitt worked for Helix Energy Solutions Group as a “toolpusher” on an offshore rig.  Helix paid him a flat fee for each day he worked.  Mr. Hewitt worked for Helix for four consecutive weeks, typically 12 hours per day for seven days per week, followed by four weeks off.  Although Helix did not pay him for the four week periods when he was not working, Mr. Hewitt earned over $200,000 per year.  Even though Mr. Hewitt regularly worked more than 40 hours per week, Helix never paid him an overtime premium.

Mr. Hewitt sued Helix under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (“FLSA”), a federal law that requires employers to pay covered employees receive overtime pay if they work more than 40 hours per week.

The Third Circuit recently addressed when a bonus an employee receives from someone other than his or her employer counts toward the employee’s “regular hourly rate” of pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”).

When Must Payments from Third Parties be Counted Toward Overtime Pay?The FLSA is a federal law that, among other things, requires employers to pay most non-exempt employees time-and-a-half when they work more than 40 hours in a workweek.  As a result, the higher the employee’s regular hourly rate, the higher the overtime pay premium the employee is entitled to receive.

The case involves employees of Bristol Excavating Inc., an excavation contractor, who work at sites owned by another company, Talisman Energy Inc.  Since the employees work 12 ½ hour shifts every day for two straight weeks, followed by a week off, they routinely work substantial overtime hours.

Today, New Jersey passed new law impoving wage and hour law protectionsNew Jersey’s Acting Governor Sheila Oliver signed an amendment to New Jersey’s  wage and hour laws that makes several extremely important improvements.

The amendment impacts several New Jersey laws, most importantly the Wage & Hour Law (“WHL”) and the Wage Payment Act (“WPA”).  The WHL is a statute that requires employers to pay employees who do not fall within an exemption minimum wage ($10 per hour in 2019) and time-and-half when they work more than 40 hours in any particular workweek.  The WPA is a law that requires employers to pay employees on time, and typically at least twice per month.

The amendment includes numerous new provisions, all of which go into effect immediately.  We have summarized some of the most significant changes below:

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled that the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) requires employers to pay employees for breaks during the workday that are no longer than 20 minutes long.

American Future Systems, which does business as Progressive Business Publications, publishes and sells business publications.  Progressive pays its sales representatives by the hour, plus bonuses based on how much they sell, for the time they are logged onto their work computers.  Most of Progressive’s employees are paid minimum wage.

Employees entitled to be paid for short breaksIn the past, Progressive allowed its employees to take two paid fifteen-minute breaks per day.  But in 2009, the company implemented what it called a “flex time” policy.  Under this policy, employees were permitted to log off of their computers whenever they wanted, for as long as they wanted, as long as they worked the agreed-upon total number of hours per week.  But under this new policy, Progressive did not pay employees if they logged off of their computers for more than 90 seconds.  In other words, it stopped paying them for breaks that lasted more than 90 seconds.

In a recent ruling, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that an arbitration agreement did not prohibit an exotic dancer from pursuing her overtime and minimum wage claims in court.

Exotic Dancer Can Bring Wage and Hour Claim in CourtAlissa Moon worked at the Breathless Men’s Club, which is in Rahway, New Jersey.  The Club treated her as an independent contractor, rather than an employee.  In fact, she had to agree to rent space from the Club where she could perform, and signed an “Independent Dancer Rental Agreement” which expressly states that she is an independent contractor.

That agreement also includes the following arbitration provision:

Minimum wage increases in NJ and NYStarting on January 1, 2017, the minimum wage has increased in New York State, New York City and New Jersey.  Specifically:

New Jersey

The minimum wage has increased from $8.38 to $8.44 per hour as a cost of living increase.  Under New Jersey law, there will be additional cost of living increases in future years.

A recent ruling from the United Stated Third Circuit Court of Appeals in a wage and hour lawsuit holds that an employer cannot use the fact that it voluntarily paid its employees during their lunch to offset periods when employees worked but were not paid.  The Third Circuit is the federal appellate court that handles cases from several districts, including the District of New Jersey.

The case was brought by Bobbi-Jo Smiley, Amber Blow, and Kelsey Turner, three former employees of E.I. Dupont De Nemours & Co. and Adecco USA, Inc. (collectively, “DuPont”), as a potential class and collective action.  They claimed DuPont failed to pay them overtime for a total of approximately 30 to 60 minutes per day for time they spent (1) “donning and doffing,” meaning putting on and taking off their uniforms and protective gear, and (2) “shift relief,” meaning updating the employees who would be relieving them on the next shift.  Since the employees routinely worked more than 40 hours per week, they claimed they were entitled to time-and-a-half for these additional pre-shift and post-shift overtime hours.

Workers on Paid Lunchbreak Entitled to OvertimeThe workers sued under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and a similar state wage and hour law.  After 160 workers joined the lawsuit, DuPont filed a motion for summary judgment seeking to have the case dismissed.  The company argued that because it had voluntarily paid the workers during their lunch and other meal breaks – something it was not legally required – those payments should offset any additional overtime pay which the employees might be entitled to receive.  The trial court agreed and dismissed the case since the paid meal breaks were longer than the unpaid donning and doffing and shift relief time.  The employees appealed.

Restaurant employee tired from working overtimeThe Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled that the parties to a lawsuit cannot agree to dismiss a case under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) as part of a settlement unless they have the approval of a Judge or the United States Department of Labor (“DOL”). The FLSA is a federal wage and hour law which establishes minimum wage and overtime requires.

Dorian Cheeks worked as a server for Freeport Pancake House, Inc. and W.P.S. Industries, Inc. He filed a lawsuit in the Eastern District of New York against both companies in which he asserted claims under the FLSA and New York Labor Law. He is seeking unpaid overtime pay and liquidated (double) damages, as well as attorneys’ fees. He also alleges that the Pancake House demoted him and eventually fired him because he objected about the company’s failure to properly pay overtime to him and its other employees, and is seeking damages for his past and future lost wages.

Mr. Cheeks and the Pancake House eventually agreed to settle the case. Accordingly, they filed a stipulation with the court seeking to have the case dismissed with prejudice. However, the court refused to dismiss the case. Instead, it directed the parties to file a copy of their settlement agreement as part of the public record, and to explain why they believe the settlement is “fair and reasonable.” The Court did so because the FLSA prohibits employees from waiving their rights under it unless their settlement agreement either was supervised by the DOL or approved by a court.

Yesterday afternoon, New York States’ Fast Food Wage Board approved a set of three resolutions that recommend raising the minimum wage for employees who work for fast food chains to $15 per hour. This would be $6.25 more than New York’s current $8.75 minimum wage.

The Fast Food Wage Board was formed the past May, at the request of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, to review wages in the fast-food industry.

Fast food workerUnder the three resolutions, covered “Fast Food Establishments” include any business in New York State that serves food and drink (1) at which customers order and pay before they eat; (2) which provides “limited service,” which presumably means they offer limited or no table service; and (3) which are part of a chain that has at least 30 locations throughout the United States.

A recent decision by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals makes it more difficult for unpaid interns to successfully bring overtime and minimum wage claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and New York State’s wage and hour law. The FLSA is a federal law that requires employers to pay certain employees at least the minimum wage, and time-and-a-half when they work more than 40 hours per week. The Second Circuit handles appeals from federal courts in New York, Connecticut and Vermont.

unpaid intern making photocopies for employerThe case was filed by Eric Glatt, Alexander Footman, Eden Antalik. Mr. Glatt and Mr. Footman worked for Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc. in connection with the movie Black Swan, and Ms. Antalik worked for the company in another capacity. Their job duties varied, but included things like copying and scanning documents, taking lunch orders, making deliveries, hotel reservations and catering arrangements, and taking out the trash. They worked between 30 and 50 hours per week. Fox classified all three as interns and did not pay them at all. They sued, claiming Fox failed to pay them minimum wage and overtime in violation of the FLSA and New York State law.

The United States Department of Labor (“DOL”) has a longstanding guidance which sets a very high requirement before a company can treat someone as an unpaid intern without violating the FLSA. Under it, an employer must pay an intern unless all six of the following conditions are met:

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