Posts tagged 'overtime'

August 16, 2012

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DOL to Continue Challenging Overtime-Exempt and Independent Contractor Arrangements

Speaking before the American Bar Association (ABA) at its annual conference this month, Solicitor M. Patricia Smith of the Department of Labor (DOL) said that investigations of employment arrangements that incorrectly classify people as independent contractors, or otherwise make employees exempt from overtime pay, would continue in a cooperative effort with several states. Smith, who as labor s...

August 15, 2012

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Recent FLSA Overtime Settlement Outside of Court Definitely Not the Norm

DOL FLSA overtime

The Department of Labor (DOL) and the courts themselves have generally hewed to the ruling in the 1982 case of Lynn's Food Stores, Inc. v. the United States that the "substantive rights" afforded by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) cannot be bargained or negotiated outside of court except by the DOL. Such "substantive rights" include the FLSA guarantee of time-a...

April 11, 2011

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Jury Rejects DOL Interpretation in Case

exempt employees non-exempt employees overtime

In March 2010 the Department of Labor (DOL) issued an Administrator's Interpretation (AI) declaring that mortgage loan officers are hourly workers subject to overtime pay and not exempt employees on a salary or commission schedule. Just this past month, however, a federal jury concluded that 350 mortgage loan officers employed by Quicken Loans are indeed exempt employees and do not deserve ...

May 3, 2010

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DOL Mulls New Approach to Compliance

exempt employees FLSA non-exempt employees overtime

The Department of Labor (DOL), in issuing an updated regulatory agenda this past week, announced it was considering a major change in its approach to enforcement. Instead of letting businesses play what it called a "catch me if you can" game, the DOL said it will issue regulations requiring each company to develop and implement its own compliance plan. In essence, this would require c...

March 25, 2010

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DOL Targets New York Health Care Industry for Misclassification Audits

FLSA misclassification overtime

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), operating on information from its Albany field office, has targeted the health care industry in New York state for investigation into the misclassification of workers and subsequent under-payment of overtime wages. Underlying this effort is a finding by the department's Albany district office that, during the past five years, almost two out of every three hea...

October 23, 2009

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Ninth Circuit Court Signs Off on 12-Hour Shift Scheme

FLSA overtime

In 1993, the nurses at Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center in California voluntarily created and voted for a plan to work 12-hour instead of 8-hour shifts while retaining their hourly rate without being paid overtime. Under the plan, the nurses went from $22.83 an hour for 8 hours to $19.57 for 12 hours. However, for the 12-hour shifts, they would be paid time-and-a-half for hours nine throug...

September 3, 2009

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Low-Wage American Workers Report Widespread Abuse

minimum wage overtime wage abuse wage theft

A study done by the Center for Urban Economic Development, the National Employment Law Project, and the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment has turned up some startling statistics revealing persistent wage abuse. Surveying 4,300 low-wage workers in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York, the consortium found that: 26 percent reported being paid less than the minimum wage; 76 perc...

August 28, 2009

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FLSA Misconceptions About Off-the-Clock Work

DOL FLSA off-the-clock overtime

We've just posted a new white paper in that section on the Personnel Concepts new Web site entitled "Popular Misconceptions," in which we examine the ingenious ways that employers seek to stay off the overtime-pay radar of the Department of Labor (DOL). Let's look at one of those methods: Say Employer A sends 20 hourly employees to training on a Saturday. He calls it "voluntary," but the emplo...

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U.S. Department of Labor Officially Restores Prior Overtime Exemption Rules

On May 14th, 2026, the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced it has officially rescinded the 2024 overtime exemption rules. Specifically, the WHD published a technical amendment to restore previous 2019 regulations that dictated overtime exemptions for...

NLRB General Counsel Takes Action to Tackle Current Case Backlog

On May 6th, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and NLRB General Counsel Crystal Stowe Carey announced the bulk transfer of thousands of labor practice cases. Specifically, this action fulfills an initiative signed by the NLRB General Counsel earlier this year. Overall, the initiative...

Privacy Agency Invites Comments from Businesses on the CCPA’s Usage of Personal Data

Recently, the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) issued a call for comments on the current state of personal data collection under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Specifically, the invitation to deliver remarks was issued on April 20th, 2026. The information provided by the...

DOL Proposes New Joint Employer Rule To Unify Standards Under Federal Labor Laws

In April 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a proposed rule to establish a single, clear standard for determining when joint-employer status applies under three major federal laws: the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and the Migrant and Seasonal...

DOL Updates Enforcement Approach for Employee Benefit Plans: What Employers Should Know

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced a significant change in its enforcement of employee benefit plan rules. The DOL will now focus more closely on serious violations that harm workers and retirees, meaning compliant employers may face less scrutiny under the updated approach.

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