The US Department of Labor has issued new overtime rules. Effective December 1, 2016, most American workers who earn less than $913 per week ($47,476 per year) will be eligible for overtime pay (1.5 times regular hourly pay) when they work more than 40 hours in a week. Key provisions of the rule are as […]
Proposed New Regulations Would Raise Income Threshold for Wage & Hour Exemptions
Federal wage & hour laws require payment of overtime to all employees who (1) work more than 40 hours a week and (2) are not exempt as a result of the type of job they perform. Some of the exemptions are discussed here. The income threshold for the exemptions has been the same for many […]
U.S. Supreme Court Hears Security Screening Wage and Hour Case
On October 8, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument on a wage and hour case filed by employees of a warehouse business. The business provides storage facilities and order-filling staff for companies that include Amazon. Employees are required to stand in line and undergo a security screening after completing their work shifts and […]
Federal Court Confirms Unpaid Internships Are Illegal
In a ruling last week, a federal judge in New York confirmed what has long been predicted on this website (see here and here): that unpaid internships that are not provided for educational course credit, and that are not otherwise designed primarily to benefit the intern, are illegal. Thus, production assistants who worked as unpaid […]
Supreme Court Rules that a Wage & Hour Collective Action Can Be Mooted by an Offer to Pay the Lead Plaintiff in Full
In Genesis Healthcare v. Symczyk, decided April 16, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a group, or collective, action to recover unpaid wages can be mooted by an employer’s offer to have judgment entered against it for the full amount of the lead plaintiff’s unpaid wages and reasonable attorney’s fees, if the court overseeing […]
What Are The Rules For Using Interns?
This is the time of year when students looking to explore a career interest or to gain experience are applying for unpaid summer internships. As employers consider “hiring” interns, they should bear certain rules in mind in order to avoid running into problems with the U.S. Department of Labor or the IRS. It is easy […]
