The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is a federal agency created in 1913 under the administration of President William H. Taft, which enforces the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) created in 1938 under the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The DOL’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) which formed simultaneously with the enactment of…
Continue reading ›The use of the two-tier method to determine whether collective actions should proceed under Section 216(b) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) is inappropriate because it: (1) conflates Rule 23 standards with non-applicable wage and overtime claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act; and (2) wastes judicial resources and the resources of the parties.…
Continue reading ›Employers that are faced with collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act may be able to defeat Motions for Conditional Certification if they can demonstrate the individualized nature of named plaintiff’s claims. See Caballero v. Kelly Services, Inc., WL 12732863, at *7 (S.D. Tex. Oct. 5, 2015) (denying certification where alleged violations were “not…
Continue reading ›Under Florida law, a corporation that acquires the assets of another corporation generally does not assume the liabilities of the predecessor corporation. The successor corporation will acquire its predecessor’s liabilities only to the extent it agreed to acquire those liabilities in the asset purchase agreement. Many states have similar laws regarding a successor corporation’s liability.…
Continue reading ›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…
Continue reading ›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…
Continue reading ›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…
Continue reading ›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…
Continue reading ›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…
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