Articles Posted in Employment Law

The Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) not only requires that employers pay minimum and overtime wages, it also prohibits employers from retaliating against their employees for complaining about their wages. The FLSA makes it unlawful for employers to “discharge or in any manner discriminate against any employee because such employee has filed a complaint or…

A common dispute that arises in overtime and minimum wage litigation is whether an individual hired by the defendant is an independent contractor or an employee. Many companies choose to hire independent contractors to perform work instead of hiring employees. Because independent contractors are not considered “employees” under the Fair Labor Standard Act (“FLSA”), the…

Florida law tends to favor enforcement of non-competition covenants. Under Florida law, non-competition covenants are enforceable if they protect one or more legitimate business interests and if they are reasonable in time, area, and line of business. In fact, Florida law explicitly forbids courts from considering “any individualized economic or other hardship that might be…

When an employee brings a claim for unpaid overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), the employee must prove that he or she worked overtime without proper compensation. If the employer kept accurate records of the employee’s work hours, the employee could easily prove his or her case by referring to those records. For…

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires that all employers covered by the FLSA pay their employees overtime wages for hours worked over 40 hours per workweek. Generally, “overtime” wages are 1.5 times the regular wage. The FLSA, however, identifies several classes of employees who are exempt from the overtime provision. One such class of…

Because arbitration usually is cheaper and faster than litigation, employers often include arbitration agreements in their employment contracts. However, courts do not always enforce arbitration agreements. Although federal law favors arbitration, state and federal courts may find an arbitration agreement unenforceable for several reasons. One such reason is when the arbitration agreement contains a provision…

The use of computers in the workplace has become so pervasive that, whether or not employers officially permit personal use, such use has become the norm. Where “reasonable” personal use is allowed, the lines between excessive use and acceptable or normal use may not always be easy to draw. For example, Coleman v. Review Bd.…

Is there a right to privacy in an employee’s personnel file? A recent Florida appellate court case Walker v. Rout, 2013 Fla.App. Lexis 6466 (Fla. 5th DCA 2013), analyzed this subject in depth. The court observed that personnel files undoubtedly contain private information. See, for example, Regan-Touhy v. Walgreen Co, 526 F.3d 641 (10th Cir.…

When a prospective employer contacts a potential employee’s former employer for a job reference, what liability does the former employer potentially face when responding? And is it prudent for a former employer to create potential liability issues by commenting on a former employee? Prior to 1990, employers had a common law qualified privilege to discuss…

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, interpreting the Americans With Disabilities Act (“ADA”) before its 2008 amendments, recently ruled in Young v. United Parcel Service, Inc., 707 F.3d 437 (4th Cir. 2013), that an employee’s pregnancy does not justify a disability discrimination lawsuit. The ADA is a federal law that prohibits…