Fair Labor Standards Act

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, all employees are entitled to overtime. But, what if there is a dispute about the overtime? What happens when the employee claims a large amount of overtime, but the employer says there was no overtime?

Supreme Court precedent holds that if an employer maintains time records, then the employer

The death penalty sanction is very rare in litigation, but it does happen. In Hornady v. Outokumpu Stainless U.S., No. 18-00317-JB-N (S.D. Ala. 11/18/2021), the court specifically found the defendant had obstructed discovery for years. The lawsuit concerned a Fair Labor Standards Act collective action – a class action lawsuit. As part of every

I have previously written about joint employers. See my posts here and here. TheTrump administration tried to make it harder to show a joint employer relationship. It adopted an interpretive regulation which the DOL thought would make it harder to prove joint employers. But, the court in State of New York v. Scalia,

“You get a rest break every four hours,” the seasoned warehouseman told me back in the 1970’s.  He knew everything. I just assumed he was right about this, too. But, since then, I have never seen anything in law or regulation stating that workers were entitled to a 15 minute break every 4 hours. But,

Some employers try to avoid the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act by claiming an hourly employee is a manager or simply that the employee is paid on a salary basis. In Kim v. Umami Grill & Sushi, LLC, No. H-18-850, 2019 U.S. List. LEXIS 31054 (S.D. Tex. 2/27/2019), the employer moved

Judges matter. The life experiences they bring to the bench matter. So, when I see a concurrence like the one written by Judge Jones of the Fifth Circuit, I become concerned. In Pineda v. JTCH Apartments, LLC, No. 15-10932 (5th Cir. 12/19/2016), the employee recovered some $5,000 in damages. Santiago Pineda was a maintenance

In federal court, sanctions are a real possibility. A state court can also award sanctions if a lawsuit is found to be frivolous. But, state court judges are more reticent about awarding sanctions than federal judges. In federal court, sanctions rarely occur, but they do occur. The law firm representing the plaintiffs in Elfoulki v.

Well, two dancers won their trial last March. So, now Tiffany’s Cabaret has settled with the remaining dancers. I previously wrote about this case and trial here. The dancers sought a collective action, which is the name for a class action under the Fair Labor Standards Act. About half the dancers could not join