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Articles Posted in Wage and Hour

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Citing Harry Potter, Third Circuit requires employers to pay non-exempt workers for short breaks.

Yep, Harry Potter. On Friday, the Third Circuit of Appeals issued a precedential Fair Labor Standards Act opinion. The issue was whether the FLSA requires employers to compensate employees for breaks of 20 minutes or less after they log off their computers and are free from any work duties. I…

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In the Third Circuit, willful FLSA violations are as common as spotting a unicorn sliding down a rainbow into a leprechaun’s pot of gold as pigs fly by.

If an employer violates the Fair Labor Standards Act, like by not paying overtime, the plaintiff(s) can generally recover two years of unpaid overtime for the two years preceding the lawsuit. Those plaintiffs may also recover liquidated damages equal to the unpaid overtime. So, if an employer owes $100 in…

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Hear that? It’s the fat lady singing about the U.S. Department of Labor’s proposed OT rules.

Yesterday, a Texas federal judge killed ’em dead. Now, I could go on for a few hundred words and re-explain the entire history of the overtime rules. But, it’s five o’clock somewhere and Kate Tornone did all of the heavy lifting already in this article for HRDive.com. So, put down your adult…

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If you own a restaurant, and pay servers more than minimum wage, can you keep customer tips?

A few years back, some progressive (?) restaurants around the country made headlines by paying their waitstaff more than minimum wage and putting the kibosh on customer tips. This broke with the traditional way of paying customarily-tipped employees in scratch offs and iced animal crackers. That is, most employers would pay the minimum-required…

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All I can think about is that scene from Rounders. You know the one…

I see your lawsuit and raise you a contempt motion! (It sounded baller in my head. But, seeing it in print, not so much.) Although that .gif… Injunction? What injunction? Remember a few months ago when I blogged about a class-action lawsuit filed in a New Jersey federal court. That’s…

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Here’s how the federal overtime rules are starting to take shape for your workplace

Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor asked for public comment on how to refresh the existing overtime rules under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Since it’s Monday, your eyes are probably bleary from all that’s been written about the DOL overtime rules, and it’s Monday, allow me to spoon…

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The public gets to beat the dead horse of the DOL overtime rules together, and other wage and hour news

Want to weigh in on the U.S. Department of Labor‘s proposed overtime rules? Well, now you’ll get that chance. Again. If this sounds familiar, it should. The DOL would love to hear from you (again) about those overtime rules. Yep, we’re talking about the same overtime rules that would have…

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A worker can sue his employer and the company’s lawyer for FLSA retaliation, says Ninth Circuit

Let’s go live to California for an immediate reaction from the defense bar… I’d like to start by apologizing to the State of New Jersey. You’ve got a long way to go and, hopefully, you never get there. Now, let’s check out the Ninth Circuit’s opinion — actually, it’s here — in…

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Bah Gawd! DOJ turns face and will support class-action waivers in Supreme Court battle

  Consider this my attempt at “Serenity now” after chaperoning eight kids eight and younger at a Philadelphia Phillies game on Saturday. With a rain delay. And the tiny dancer featured above. Fortunately, we left the ballpark with all of the kids. I think. Hopefully, my oldest son, Brooks, enjoyed his birthday.…