The Weekly Guide to Employment Law Developments

The Rocky Mountain Employer

Labor & Employment Law Updates

Posts tagged FLSA
Waiting to Log onto Computer before Clocking in May be Compensable Time

The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals found that call center employees must be paid for the time (approximately two (2) minutes) they wait for their computers to boot up before they can clock in for work.

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Trump-Era Independent Contractor Rule Withdrawn

On May 5, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a Final Rule withdrawing the DOL’s January 7, 2021 Final Rule regarding the classification of independent contractors under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

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DOL Revives Double Damages Awards for Wage Violations

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has given investigators greater discretion in when to seek liquidated damages – double the amount of back pay an employer owes - in pre-litigation settlements for employers’ violations of the overtime or minimum wage provisions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

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The U.S. Department of Labor Proposes a New Economic Reality Test to Determine When Workers Classify As Independent Contractors or Employees

The Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) proposed a new rule, amending the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) to make it easier to determine whether workers are independent contractors or employees and covered under federal minimum wage and overtime laws.

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DOL’s Narrowed Joint Employer Rule Struck Down by Federal Court

A New York federal court invalidated substantial portions of the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Rule issued earlier this year narrowing the definition of “joint employer” under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

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Department of Labor’s Clarifies Weekly Hourly Requirements and Salary Deductions For Fluctuating Workweek Calculation in a New Opinion Letter

On August 31, 2020, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (“WHD”) issued an opinion letter (the “Opinion Letter”) regarding the workweek fluctuation method. The Opinion Letter clarifies that employees’ hours do not need to fluctuate below 40 hours per week to qualify for the fluctuating workweek calculation method.

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U.S. Labor Department Issues Guidance to Remind Employers of Obligation to Track Hours Worked Remotely

This week, the U.S. Department of Labor issued guidance regarding employers’ obligations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) to track the number of hours of compensable work performed by employees, including work performed remotely or away from their employers’ worksite.

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Department of Labor Will Generally Forgo Assessing Pre-Litigation Liquidated Damages

On June 24, 2020, the Department of Labor (the “DOL”) issued a Field Assistance Bulletin providing that effective July 1, 2020, the DOL will no longer pursue pre-litigation liquidated damages in all cases in its administratively resolved investigations.

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The Department of Labor’s Revised Rules Allow More Employers To Assert Overtime Exemptions

On May 19, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (“WHD”) issued a final rule that withdrew the “partial list of establishments” it previously viewed as having “no retail concept,” which disqualified the employees of certain commissioned retail and service establishment from the Fair Labor Standard Act’s (“FLSA”) overtime exemption.

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Marijuana Businesses Must Comply With Federal Wage and Hour Laws

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit recently held that employers engaged in commercial cannabis activities must comply with wage and hour requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”).

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Trucking Companies Do Need Not to Pay Drivers for Off-Duty Time in Sleeper Berths

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (“DOL”) has set forth new guidelines for compensating long-haul truck drivers for off-duty time spent in sleeper berths. Under a recent DOL opinion letter, employers need not pay drivers for time they are relieved of all duties and permitted to sleep in adequate sleeping facilities such as a sleeper berth.

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Update to Tip Pooling Notice Requirements in Colorado

Starting August 2, 2019, Colorado businesses that require or administer tip pools for employees must comply with new notice requirements. Colorado businesses that pool tips previously were required to post a conspicuous notice on a printed card stating that tips given to employees belonged to the employer, rather than the employee.

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US Department of Labor Announces Proposed Rule Limiting Joint-Employer Liability

This week, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued a proposed rule to alter the standard for determining joint-employer status under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). The DOL proposes a straightforward, four-factor test that would consider whether the potential joint employer actually exercises the power to:

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California Employers Must Pay Employees for Minimal and Difficult-to-Track Off-the-Clock Work

California employers must compensate employees for all regularly occurring pre-shift and post-shift tasks that take just a few minutes and are difficult to track, the California Supreme Court recently held.

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Tenth Circuit Holds That Employees Need Not Allege Specific Facts of Willfulness to Assert Older Wage Claims Under the Fair Labor Standards Act

This month, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals (which hears appeals from federal courts in Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wyoming) reinstated wage claims of two house cleaners under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), and rejected the argument that such claims were time-barred because they were more than two years old.

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New DOL Test Gives Private Employers More Flexibility to Hire Unpaid Interns

On January 5, 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) adopted a new test for determining when interns are employees who must be paid in accordance with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Although federal courts over the last several years had rejected the Obama administration’s rigid and mandatory six-prong test for whether someone can by properly classified as an unpaid intern under the FLSA, the DOL has now formerly adopted a more flexible primary beneficiary/economic reality test.

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DOL Seeks Time to Rewrite White Collar Overtime Exceptions

On October 30, 2017, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) appealed the federal district court decision striking down the Obama-Era white collar exceptions, which proposed raising the salary level at which companies must pay overtime to employees from $23,660.00 to $47,476.00 per year. The DOL plans to ask the court to stay the appeal while considering whether to re-write the overtime rule.

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Obama-Era Increase in Minimum Salary Level for Overtime Exemption Officially Invalidated

The same judge who preliminary enjoined the Obama-era Department of Labor (“DOL”) Final Rule raising the minimum salary level for overtime exemption two weeks before it was set to take effect on December 1, 2016, struck down the rule on August 31, 2017.  The rule would have raised the minimum salary for an individual to be exempt from overtime pay from $455 per week ($23,660 annually) to $913 per week ($47,476 annually). Judge Amos L. Mazzant of the U. S. District Court of the Eastern District of Texas, who was nominated to the bench by former President Obama in 2014, granted summary judgment for the groups of plaintiffs that challenged the rule, consisting of the Plano Chamber of Commerce, more than 50 business groups from Texas and across the nation, and 21 other states. 

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SECOND CIRCUIT BREATHES NEW LIFE INTO INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR RELATIONSHIPS, FINDING BLACK CAR DRIVERS IN NYC ARE INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS

Last month, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals (“Second Circuit”) dismissed black-car franchisees’ claims for overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), holding the franchisees were independent contractors. The decision shows that courts will recognize and enforce independent contractor relationships where the proper agreements and structure are in place throughout the duration of the working relationship.

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