Tag Archives: FLSA

U.S. Dept. of Labor Makes Its Move

Fair Labor Standards Act, Tips for Employers, U.S. Department of Labor March 14, 2019 Leave a comment

Employment attorney adam gersh

As long-time readers of this blog may recall, since 2015, the U.S. Department of Labor  has been trying to update its Fair Labor Standards Act  regulations to qualify more employees for overtime pay. For basic exemptions, meaning those that are not industry-dependent such as the administrative, executive and professional exemptions, employers may generally classify as exempt from overtime pay only employees who meet both a duties test and a salary test.  Since 2004, federal law allowed employers to designate salaried workers who earn at least $455/week (the equivalent of $23,660/year) and meet certain “white collar exemption” duties-test requirements as exempt from overtime.  This month, the DOL issued a proposed rule to increase that salary exemption to $679/week (equivalent to $35,308/year).  If adopted, salaried employees who meet an applicable duties test and earn more than $455/week but less than $679/week will no longer be exempt from overtime under the basic exemptions.  Importantly, the DOL proposed rule will allow employers to use nondiscretionary bonuses (for example incentive bonuses tied to productivity or profitability) and incentive payments (including commissions) that are paid at least annually to satisfy up to 10 percent of the salary test.  The DOL is also proposing to increase the exemption that applies to highly compensated employees.  Currently, salaried employees who earn at least $100,000/year in salary are exempt from overtime regardless of whether they satisfy the applicable duties test.  Under the proposed rule, the highly compensated employee salary threshold will increase to $147,414/year, meaning employees paid less than that threshold amount will be subject to a duties test or other exemption.  The proposed rule does not seek a change to any of the duties tests for the basic exemptions.

Savvy employer takeaways: Employers need to evaluate their payroll to identify salaried employees who meet the applicable duties test but may no longer be exempt and assess whether increasing the employee’s salary or making the employee overtime eligible makes more sense.  Employers also need to consider applicable state law, which may be more restrictive than the exemptions permitted under the FLSA.

Questions? Let me know.

The Department of Labor Goes to Church – Tips for Employers with Charitable Components

Tips for Employers September 20, 2018 Leave a comment

Adam Gersh Provides Tips for Employers with Charitable ComponentsThe U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit sided with a church operating the Lord’s Buffet and against the Department of Labor (“DOL”) in a case testing the reach of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). In Acosta v. Cathedral Buffet, Inc., the appellate court reversed a trial court ruling and held that volunteers who staffed a church-operated buffet are not employees and the Grace Cathedral Church did not run afoul of the FLSA by failing to pay the volunteers minimum wage.  The DOL claimed the church and its televangelist pastor illegally used unpaid labor by staffing its buffet with volunteers from the congregation.  In this case, the church operated the buffet restaurant for a religious purpose: to allow church members to proselytize to patrons.  Its operations relied heavily on church volunteers who worked alongside paid employees performing the same work. While the work performed was comparable to that of an employee, the Sixth Circuit held the DOL overstepped the bounds of the FLSA by applying it to the volunteer workforce.  In part, the Court’s decision relied on a determination that the volunteers had no expectation of payment and were not economically reliant on the work of the church.  

Savvy employer takeaways: Employers with charitable missions and those who support charities must be careful to delineate work from volunteer activities to avoid claims that the volunteers should have been paid for their activities.

Questions? Let me know.

 

Not-So Silent Partner May Have Individual Liability Under the FLSA

Fair Labor Standards Act September 17, 2018 Leave a comment

restaurant employees.jpgIn Malee v. Anthony & Frank Ditomaso, Inc., the Court served a surprise to a shareholder of a corporation that owned a restaurant, who sought to be dismissed from a FLSA case brought by employees of the restaurant.  The shareholder alleged he did not participate in the business on a day-to-day basis and, therefore, was not an “employer” within the meaning of the FLSA.  The Court refused to dismiss the claims, finding that the shareholder’s attendance at staff meetings, and advice on operating the business created a triable issue of fact as to whether the shareholder was, in fact, an employer within the meaning of the FLSA.

Savvy employer takeaways: The FLSA and overlapping state wage and hour laws often impose individual liability on officers, owners, and others involved in decisions to deprive employees of wages owed.

Questions? Let me know.

Recall Alert: The Service Advisor Exemption The Courts Just Can’t Fix

Fair Labor Standards Act, Overtime Rules January 10, 2017 Leave a comment

In what Yogi Berra might describe as a case of “déjà vu all over again,” the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a January 9th decision holding that dealership service advisors are not exempt from overtime requirements under the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”).  In short, the Court ruled service advisors, who were historically exempt under a dealership-specific exemption, must now be paid overtime for hours over 40, unless another exemption applies.

What was the ruling? 

As you may recall, this same Court made a similar ruling in 2015, but the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the earlier ruling in a June 20, 2016 decision that sent the case back to the Ninth Circuit.  This protracted legal back-and-forth revolves around an interpretation of whether the U.S. Congress intended service advisors to be included within the FLSA’s exemption for certain automobile dealership positions and the weight that courts should give to the U.S. Department of Labor’s historical interpretation that service advisors were exempt.

Specifically, the FLSA expressly exempts certain dealership employees from the requirement to pay overtime (1.5 times the hourly rate for hours worked over 40).  This exemption applies to, “any salesman, partsman, or mechanic primarily engaged in selling or servicing automobiles, trucks, or farm implements, if he is employed by a nonmanufacturing establishment primarily engaged in the business of selling such vehicles or implements to ultimate purchasers.”  29 U.S.C. § 213(b)(10) (2016).  From 1978 to 2011, the U.S. Department of Labor interpreted this exemption to apply to dealership service advisors (as salesman of services), however, in 2011, the Department reversed course and issued a new rule that applied the exemption only to “salesman”, meaning service advisors would have to be paid overtime.

Since the Department of Labor issued this rule, dealerships have been challenging it, arguing the Department of Labor overstepped its bounds by changing course so dramatically and misinterpreted the FLSA.  When the U.S. Supreme Court weighed in in 2016, it ruled only that the Ninth Circuit improperly gave too much weight to the Department of Labor’s interpretation, without deciding whether the Court’s interpretation was correct.  The U.S. Supreme Court sent the case back to the Ninth Circuit with guidance on the level of deference it should give to the Department of Labor.  Now, the Ninth Circuit weighed in again and decided, without giving any weight to the Department of Labor, the FLSA is clear enough on its own that its exemption does not extend to service advisors.  According to the Ninth Circuit, the FLSA is meant to exempt workers who sell cars, not services.

Where does it apply? 

This decision applies to Courts in the Ninth Circuit (Alaska, Arizona, California, and Hawaii) and is binding on those courts.  While it contradicts earlier decisions by courts in the Fourth (Maryland, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia) and Fifth (Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas) Circuits and the Supreme Court of Montana, those decisions are now in question.  As far as the U.S. Department of Labor is concerned, dealerships should be prepared for the Department to enforce the FLSA in a consistent manner on a nation-wide basis by requiring service advisors to be paid overtime.

What is next? 

Unfortunately, this new decision is not likely to end the debate.  For now, the Ninth Circuits ruling allows the U.S. Department of Labor to interpret the FLSA consistent with its 2011 rule and for it to require service advisors to be paid overtime for hours worked over 40.  However, there will likely be another appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court and there may even be new legislation to extend the exemption to the service advisors.  Moreover, with the new administration and new Secretary of Labor, the Department of Labor may, once again, change course.

What should dealerships do? 

First, dealerships need to assess whether, in fact, their service advisors are working in excess of 40 hours per weekly pay period.  Second, if the service advisors are exceeding 40 hours, dealerships should evaluate their pay plans and staffing structure to determine the scope of their potential overtime obligations and options for mitigating them.  For instance, even if the dealership-specific exemption does not apply to service advisors, certain service advisors on compliant commissioned pay plans may fall within other FLSA exemptions.

Ultimately, dealerships should buckle up for a bumpy ride.  In spite of multiple attempts, courts, legislators, and the Department of Labor have not been able to fix the ambiguity with any certainty (if this were a new car, it would be a lemon), but Flaster Greenberg can help and, to learn how, we invite you to contact Ken Gilberg, Adam Gersh, or any member of Flaster Greenberg’s Labor and Employment Practice Group.

Delaware District Court Refuses to 86 Employees’ Wage & Hour Suit

Fair Labor Standards Act, Wage & Hour July 15, 2016 Leave a comment

Restaurant owners need to be on high alert about how they pay servers for “side work” after a recent federal court decision in Delaware that put a fork in a motion to dismiss a waitress’s overtime pay lawsuit against her restaurant employer.  The server is seeking to recover for alleged violations of wage and hour laws due to the way she was compensated for work other than directly serving patrons. Given the facts and the widespread use of the challenged practice, this may be a fertile ground for class action lawsuits by servers against restaurants subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”),waitress wage and hour which generally includes restaurants with $500,000 in gross revenue.

The case, McLamb v High 5 Hospitality, arises because a server at a Buffalo Wild Wings alleges the restaurant violated her rights under the FLSA by, among other things, failing to pay her minimum wage, even though, based on the number of hours she worked, her pay exceeded the applicable minimum wage.  In this case, Buffalo Wild Wings, like most others, paid the server less than minimum wage ($2.25/hour in this case) under the FLSA’s “tip credit” provision.  According to the server, her shifts included both tip-eligible work (e.g., serving) and work that was not eligible for tips (e.g., side work  including cleaning, re-stocking, opening, closing and rolling silverware).  The server claims she regularly spent in excess of 20% of her working time performing work that was not eligible for tips.  The server claims she essentially had dual jobs and was not paid minimum wage for her side work.  Her employer argued her claim should be dismissed because, under a “work week analysis”, tips received by a tipped employee count towards their minimum wage regardless of the nature of their duties.

At the motion to dismiss stage, the Court rejected the restaurant’s argument relying, in part, on a U.S. Department of Labor Field Operations Handbook, which states “[W]here the facts indicate that specific … tipped employees spend a substantial amount of time (in excess of 20 percent) performing general preparation work or maintenance, no tip credit may be taken for the time spent in such duties.”  While this is only a trial level case in the preliminary motion to dismiss stage (where the plaintiff has a low burden to survive dismissal), it is significant that the Court is leaving open the possibility that failing to pay minimum wage to servers for side work that exceeds 20% of working time may be an FLSA violation even when the employee earned minimum wage under a “work week analysis.”  This is consistent with the holdings of other courts as well.  The case could have implications in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, as they are part of the federal Third Circuit, which includes Delaware.

To be on the safe side, restaurant employers who are subject to FLSA and use the tip credit provision should consider either keeping the time servers spend on side work below 20% of working time — and documenting that fact as well as they can — or paying servers separately for side work at a minimum wage. 

Questions? Let me know.

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