Articles Posted in Wage and Hour

Various employer associations have sued to block the DOL’s new overtime rule

May 23, 2024 | by Eric B. Meyer

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Yesterday, several employer groups and associations filed a federal lawsuit in the same court that, in 2017, stymied the U.S. Department of Labor‘s efforts to change the overtime rules by raising the minimum salary level needed to be exempt from receiving overtime. As I’ll explain below, the 2024 plaintiffs have also raised the same arguments that worked seven years ago.

It’s déjà vu all over again. Continue reading

Let’s update you on some recent NJ employment law developments

May 17, 2024 | by Eric B. Meyer

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The New Jersey Supreme Court has weighed in not once but twice this month on important employment law issues. So, if you operate a business in the Garden State, I’ll bring you up to speed on that, plus some new pending legislation.

(For the rest of you, have a nice weekend, and maybe add some pork roll or Taylor Ham to your breakfast sandwich.) Continue reading

DOL to Employers: Using artificial intelligence does not excuse compliance with the FLSA and FMLA

May 1, 2024 | by Eric B. Meyer

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On Monday, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division published new guidance reminding employers that the use of artificial intelligence and other automated technologies to track work hours, optimize employee performance, and administer leaves of absence does not excuse compliance with the laws that the WHD enforces, namely, the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act. Continue reading

See you on Zoom today at Noon ET to address the FTC’s noncompete ban and the DOL’s OT changes

April 29, 2024 | by Eric B. Meyer

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You still have time to register (here) for The Employer Handbook Zoom Office Happy Hour, which returns today at Noon ET. My Pierson Ferdinand employment law partners, Ben Jacobs and Amy Epstein Gluck, will join me to discuss the FTC’s plan to ban most employee noncompetes and explore the Department of Labor’s proposed increase to the salary level for overtime exemptions.

See you soon!

Let’s have another Zoom on Monday, 4/29/24, at Noon ET to address the FTC’s noncompete ban and the DOL’s OT changes

April 25, 2024 | by Eric B. Meyer

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What a week! Continue reading

The Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act, introduced this week in Congress, is exactly what you think it is

March 15, 2024 | by Eric B. Meyer

The same week that the U.S. Department of Labor’s rules on analyzing and determining who is an employee or independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) took effect, both houses of Congress introduced legislation to shorten the workweek. Continue reading

The Employer Handbook Friday Zoom Happy Hour Returns on Friday, March 8 at Noon ET

March 4, 2024 | by Eric B. Meyer

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The U.S. Department of Labor rules on analyzing and determining who is an employee or independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) take effect on March 11, 2024.

Has your business procrastinated in preparing for them?

If so, do not worry; I’ve got your back.
Continue reading

Instead of hiring a lawyer, a business owner ordered to pay wages used AI to prepare his appeal. It was a giant clusterf**k!

March 1, 2024 | by Eric B. Meyer

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A multi-year dispute over unpaid wages went from bad to a whole lot worse for a Midwest business owner when he decided to appeal a trial court ruling that he owed over $300k in wages, damages, and attorney’s fees by representing himself and hiring an “online consultant” who used artificial intelligence to prepare an appellate brief. Continue reading

Should Mrs. Doubtfire have been paid overtime?

February 29, 2024 | by Eric B. Meyer

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It’s not like I woke up in a cold sweat, fixated on this obscure bit of Fair Labor Standards Act minutiae.

But I did read this Eleventh Circuit decision last night, which did posit whether “Julie Andrews’s Mary Poppins, Martin Lawrence’s Big Momma, Fran Drescher’s Nanny Fine, Robin Williams’s Mrs. Doubtfire, or Vin Diesel’s Shane Wolfe…would have been entitled to overtime pay in the real world.”

So, let’s find out. Continue reading

Folks, we have our first lawsuit to try to KO the DOL’s new independent contractor rule

January 17, 2024 | by Eric B. Meyer

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It took less than a week for a group of freelance writers and editors to file this federal court lawsuit to block enforcement of the U.S. Department of Labor’s new independent contractor rules, which I wrote about here last week.

If you thought the DOL’s final rule would sail through without a fight, think again. Continue reading

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