Wage & Hour

  • January 07, 2025

    McGuireWoods Grows In Pittsburgh With Employment Atty

    An attorney specializing in employment litigation matters and advising companies on compliance strategies has moved her practice to McGuireWoods' Pittsburgh office after nearly six years with Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC.

  • January 07, 2025

    Amazon Says Worker's $1.6M Atty Fees Are Excessive

    An Amazon employee hasn't prevailed in his claims that the e-commerce giant hurdled his promotions for his U.S. Marine Corps Reserve leave, the company said, urging a Washington federal court to deny his $1.63 million in attorney fees requested as part of his settlement.

  • January 07, 2025

    Fisher Phillips Adds Dallas Employment Atty From Reed Smith

    International labor and employment law firm Fisher Phillips has brought on a Dallas-based labor and employment partner with expertise in a wide range of litigation — from class and collective actions to restrictive covenant claims — the firm announced Monday.

  • January 07, 2025

    Crop Drone Maker Stiffed Executive On Pay, Suit Says

    A former executive at a Massachusetts company that makes drones for the agricultural industry says he was never paid during his brief tenure, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in state court.

  • January 07, 2025

    Wash. Panel Won't Boot Subway Wage Dispute To Arbitration

    A Washington state appeals court declined to send to arbitration a former worker's suit accusing a Subway franchisee of failing to provide employees with meal breaks, despite a dissent finding that the worker's wage claims fall under an arbitration pact.

  • January 07, 2025

    Calif. Panel Says Individual PAGA Claims Belong In Arbitration

    An arbitration pact that the operator of a restaurant chain in California gave to a worker pushes his Private Attorneys General Act individual claims into arbitration, a state appeals panel ruled, partly flipping a trial court's decision.

  • January 06, 2025

    Wash. Labor Dept. Escapes Union's Farm Wage Challenge

    A Washington federal judge on Monday cut the state's employment agency loose from a union challenge to policies that have allegedly depressed farmworker wages, saying the U.S. Department of Labor is the only proper defendant in the litigation.

  • January 06, 2025

    Prepared Foods Co. Accused Of Duping CEO With Stock Plan

    The former CEO of the American arm of a U.K.-based food manufacturer says the company deluded him with misleading promises about stock options during the recruitment process to get him to join and then refused to pony up the shares when he left.

  • January 06, 2025

    Fox Sports Host Offered $1.5M For Sex, Harassment Suit Says

    A longtime hairstylist at Fox Sports is accusing the network of ignoring sexual harassment and a toxic workplace environment created by its executives and hosts, including an offer by TV host Skip Bayless of $1.5 million to have sex with her, according to a California state lawsuit.

  • January 06, 2025

    Texas Restaurant Illegally Claims Tip Credit, Server Says

    A Houston-area restaurant should not be allowed to claim a tip credit that permits it to pay servers less than the minimum wage because it failed to inform workers that they have to foot the bill for their uniforms, according to a proposed collective action filed in Texas federal court.

  • January 06, 2025

    Staffing Co. Strikes $4.4M Deal To End Nurses' Wage Suit

    A healthcare staffing agency agreed to pay $4.4 million to resolve a 2,300-member collective action accusing it of shorting travel nurses on overtime wages and forcing them to accept lower pay after they had already begun their contracts, a filing in Washington federal court said.

  • January 06, 2025

    Ohio State, NCAA, Big Ten Look To Sack Ex-QB's NIL Suit

    Ohio State University, the NCAA, The Big Ten Conference Inc. and a media rights licensing company urged an Ohio federal judge to toss a proposed class action brought by former Buckeye star quarterback Terrelle Pryor alleging they engaged in an anticompetitive conspiracy to monopolize profits on athletes' names, images and likenesses.

  • January 06, 2025

    Ex-Sunstein Partner Says Firm Sat On Payments For Months

    A former nonequity partner at Sunstein LLP says the firm waited months to pay him approximately $85,000 he was owed for work he performed for two clients he originated for the firm, according to a suit alleging violations of the Massachusetts Wage Act.

  • January 03, 2025

    Panera Stiffed Catering Staff Out Of OT Pay, PAGA Suit Says

    Panera cheated some employees out of overtime wages and reimbursement for the use of their cars and cellphones working with catering clients, and also manipulated records to inaccurately log break times in violation of California labor laws, according to a representative action lodged Thursday in California state court. 

  • January 03, 2025

    FTC Dems Eye Merger Review, Noncompete Legacy

    Federal Trade Commission Democrats started the new year with legacy on the brain, urging the soon-to-be Republican majority in a pair of statements to preserve their more "stringent approach" to merger review and their currently blocked ban on employment noncompete agreements, despite heavy criticism both received from their GOP peers.

  • January 03, 2025

    Apple Affiliate Operators Accused Of Evading Wage Judgment

    The operators of an Apple-affiliated repair company are shirking their duties to pay a nearly $840,000 judgment to workers who secured a jury trial win in their wage and hour lawsuit and have threatened to claw back any money workers receive, a filing in North Carolina federal court said.

  • January 03, 2025

    Budtender Says Tip Pool Suit Can Dodge Arbitration

    A budtender accusing a cannabis company of mishandling tips told a Michigan federal court that the arbitration clause in his employment agreement lacks mutuality and doesn't cover his claims, arguing that his case should stay in court.

  • January 03, 2025

    Staples Faces Another Unpaid OT Pay Class Action In Calif.

    Staples forced employees to work through breaks and regularly required them to do tasks like helping shoppers before clocking in and without being compensated, according to a proposed wage class action removed to California federal court Thursday, echoing similar wage violation claims alleged by Staples workers filed in the last year.

  • January 03, 2025

    Freelance Writers Ask 11th Circ. To Dump Ind. Contractor Rule

    Four freelance writers told the Eleventh Circuit that the U.S. Department of Labor's final rule determining whether workers are independent contractors creates uncertainty that clearly hurts them, seeking to flip a Georgia federal court's decision tossing their challenge to the rule.

  • January 03, 2025

    Calif. Panel Says PAGA Suits Always Have Individual Claims

    A delivery worker's individual claims against Target's shipping partner under California's Private Attorneys General Act belong in arbitration, a state appellate panel said, disagreeing with a trial court's decision that her suit only had representative claims.

  • January 03, 2025

    Delivery Drivers Win Class Status In Misclassification Suit

    An Illinois federal judge greenlighted a 130-member class of truck delivery drivers who accuse a logistics company of misclassifying them as independent contractors, saying the workers are sufficiently similar even if some of them hired helpers.

  • January 02, 2025

    Wage Suit Against Flowers Foods Will Wait For High Court

    A lawsuit accusing Flowers Foods of misclassifying distributors as independent contractors will be on hold while the baking company turns to the U.S. Supreme Court after the Tenth Circuit kept the case out of arbitration, a Colorado federal judge ruled Thursday.

  • January 02, 2025

    Long-Running Amazon Misclassification Suit Can't Get Cert.

    A Washington federal judge refused to greenlight a class in a seven-year-long suit accusing Amazon of misclassifying drivers as independent contractors, ruling that the class would unfairly group together workers who took different approaches to the flexibility of the job.

  • January 02, 2025

    9th Circ. Says Religious Carveout Sinks Kosher Worker's Suit

    A religious exception shielding religious entities from certain claims applies to jobs at an Orthodox Jewish organization ensuring that food is kept kosher, the Ninth Circuit ruled, upholding the dismissal of a worker's lawsuit claiming he missed out on thousands of dollars in overtime pay.

  • January 02, 2025

    Ex-Coach Wants Bias Suit Against Univ. Of Ark. Kept Alive

    A Black softball coach on Thursday urged an Arkansas federal court to reject the University of Arkansas' bid to toss her lawsuit alleging she was paid less than white coaches, saying the university is holding her allegations to too high a standard at this stage in the litigation.

Expert Analysis

  • Handbook Hot Topics: Changing Status Quo In A Union Shop

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    A recent administrative law decision concerning a dispute between Fortune Media and the NewsGuild of New York is an important reminder to employers with unionized workforces to refrain from making unilateral updates to employee handbooks that will change the terms and conditions of employment, says Jennifer Hataway at Butler Snow.

  • Eye On Compliance: A Shift In Religious Accommodation Law

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    The recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Groff v. DeJoy is making it more difficult for employers to deny religious accommodations, and there are three takeaways employers should keep in mind, say William Cook and Matthew High at Wilson Elser.

  • FLSA Collective Actions: Are Courts Still Dancing The 2-Step?

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    In the absence of amendments to the Fair Labor Standards Act, courts have filled in some of the statute's gaps and established a two-step framework for conditional certification of a class, but recent rulings show signs that courts are ready to hold party plaintiffs to a higher standard if they want to recruit others to join their lawsuits, says Allison Powers at Barack Ferrazzano.

  • Calif. PAGA Ruling Devalues Arbitration For Employers

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    The California Supreme Court’s recent opinion in Adolph v. Uber may lessen employers' appetites for arbitration under the state’s Private Attorneys General Act, because arbitrating an allegedly aggrieved employee’s individual claims is unlikely to dispose of their nonindividual claims, say attorneys at Greenberg Traurig.

  • Understanding Illinois' Temp Worker Obligation Updates

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    Recent amendments to the Illinois Day and Temporary Labor Services Act would significantly expand the protection for temporary workers in the state, impose new compliance obligations on staffing agencies and their client companies, and add significant enforcement teeth to the act, say Nicholas Anaclerio and Ellie Hemminger at Vedder Price.

  • How End Of Forced Arb. Is Affecting Sex Harassment Cases

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    A little over a year after the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault Act became effective, we have started seeing substantive interpretation of the EFAA, almost exclusively from the U.S. district courts in New York, and there are two key takeaways for employers, says Lisa Haldar at Lawrence & Bundy.

  • The Differing Court Approaches To Pay Equity Questions

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    Employers face the tough task of navigating an increasingly complex patchwork of pay equity laws and court interpretations, say attorneys at Hunton.

  • Calif. Whistleblower Decision Signals Change For Employers

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    Because the California Supreme Court's recent The People v. Kolla's decision significantly expands employee whistleblower protections, employers should ensure that internal reporting procedures clearly communicate the appropriate methods of reporting and elevating suspected violations of law, say Alison Tsao and Sophia Jimenez at CDF Labor Law.

  • Pay Transparency And ESG Synergy Can Inform Initiatives

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    The proliferation of pay transparency laws and ESG initiatives has created unique opportunities for companies to comply with the challenging laws while furthering their social aims, says Kelly Cardin at Ogletree.

  • Eye On Compliance: An NLRB Primer For Private Employers

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    Many employers, especially those with nonunionized workforces, may not realize they are subject to federal labor law, but with a recent flurry of precedent-changing rulings from the National Labor Relations, understanding how to comply with the National Labor Relations Act may now be more important than ever, says Bruno Katz at Wilson Elser.

  • RETRACTED: How New Prevailing Wage Rule May Affect H-1B Employment

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    Editor's note: This guest article has been removed due to an inaccurate discussion of the status of the U.S. Department of Labor's prevailing wage rule, "Strengthening Wage Protections for the Temporary and Permanent Employment of Certain Aliens in the United States." The rule is no longer on the Biden administration's current rulemaking agenda.

  • Water Cooler Talk: Office Drug Abuse Insights From 'Industry'

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    Tracey Diamond and Evan Gibbs at Troutman Pepper chat with Squarespace general counsel Larissa Boz about how employees in the Max TV show "Industry" abuse drugs and alcohol to cope with their high-pressure jobs, and discuss managerial and drug testing best practices for addressing suspected substance use at work.

  • How New Pregnancy, Nursing Laws Surpass Prior Protections

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    Employers must understand how the new Pregnant Workers Fairness and PUMP Acts build on existing federal workplace laws — and they will need to make key updates to ensure compliance, say Alexandra Garrison Barnett and Leigh Shapiro at Alston & Bird, and Kandis Wood Jackson at McKinsey & Co.