Wage and Hour Law and Practice

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Bass, Berry & Sims attorney Tim Garrett provided insight for an article outlining the case brought by 21 states challenging the Department of Labor (DOL) related to the new overtime regulations set to take effect December 1, 2016. Although the challenge is under review, Tim still is advising “that employers continue to plan to comply with the new rule effective Dec. 1, unless the court does impose a nationwide injunction. The risks of failing to comply are simply too great and can lead to immediate legal exposure.”
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Bass, Berry & Sims attorney Tim Garrett provided insight for an article outlining the emergency motion filed by 21 states to bar the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime rule, set to take effect December 1, 2016. The new rule will more than double the salary level for those employees classified as exempt from overtime pay from the current level of $23,660 to the new level of $47,476, or $913 per week. In the motion filed this week, the 21 states are challenging the FLSA’s new salary-level test. In the article, Tim states “I do not anticipate that the motion to delay the new salary level will be successful, other than perhaps in a manner specific to the state-plaintiffs.”
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Bass, Berry & Sims attorney Tim Garrett discussed the potential delay in implementation of the new overtime rules for an article in Nation’s Restaurant News. A bill that could delay the implementation of the overtime rules by six months cleared the House on September 28, 2016, but the bill faces a potential veto by the President if it progresses pass the Senate. Tim notes that the real battle for the legislation will be whether it can garner the two-thirds vote needed to override the potential veto. “‘I would be surprised,’ Tim said. ‘This is a difficult political point to make it appear as though a senator or congressman is against an increase in pay for the middle class.’”
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Bass, Berry & Sims attorney Tim Garrett provided insight on the Department of Labor’s (DOL) overtime pay policy, slated to take effect on December 1, 2016 (for additional background on the DOL policy, read the firm’s blog post, “DOL Announces New Salary Level in Overtime Regulations“). As Tim points out for the article, “‘I’m not saying overtime pay shouldn’t be increased, but this should be done in more responsible manner… The regulations currently don’t recognize some unintended consequences.’” According to Tim, these consequences may include the following:…
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On July 14, 2016, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued a revised version of its proposal to expand pay data collection from federal contractors and other employers with more than 100 workers. The revised proposal pushes back the date of the first required employer report to allow for the use of W-2 wage…

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has announced a new “salary level” to the so-called white collar overtime exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act. In short, the new rules take effect December 1, 2016, and will more than double the salary level for those employees classified as exempt from overtime pay from the current level of $23,660 to the new level of $47,476, or $913 per week. The highly compensated executive salary level has been raised to $134,000. The new rule is expected to impact millions of employees and is expected to be especially hard on small businesses, nonprofits, many retailers, and employers in some regions of the country.

The DOL also announced that the salary level will be adjusted automatically every three years, based on the 40th percentile of the weekly earnings of full-time salaried workers in the lowest-wage Census region. Historically, the DOL has taken the position that future adjustments in salary level required new rule-making.

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An Indiana Federal Court Judge recently ruled that NCAA student-athletes are not employees and thus do not have a claim for minimum wage payments. In Anderson et al. v. NCAA et al., three former track athletes claimed that, as student-athletes, they really should be treated as student interns and that under the Department of…

In a February 4, 2016, decision, United States ex rel. Wall v. Circle C. Construction, LLC, the Sixth Circuit summarily rejected the government’s assertion that the measure of damages in a False Claims Act (FCA) suit involving a violation of prevailing wage rate requirements was the total amount paid for the work.  The Sixth…

Home healthcare agencies and other third party employers of home care workers recently lost a key fight to prevent the Department of Labor (“DOL”) from eliminating Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) exemptions for employees who provide companionship services and live-in care within a home. On August 21, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals reversed a district court decision invalidating the regulations, meaning that employers in at least 27 states (where state law has not afforded the home care workers with minimum wage or overtime protections) should now modify their pay practices to conform with the new regulations.…
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