FLSA - Industries and Occupations

On March 23rd, President Trump signed into law a massive spending bill. Buried on page 2025 of the spending bill, available here, is the following amendment to Section 203(m) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the federal wage-hour law: “An employer may not keep tips received by its employees f

An amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in the omnibus budget bill, “Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018,” passed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump on March 23, 2018, provides that an employer “may not keep tips received by its employees for any purposes, including allow

Executive Summary: On February 16, 2018, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit granted en banc review of Marsh v. J. Alexander’s LLC, 869 F.3d 1108, creating a new layer of uncertainty for hospitality employers. The previous decision by a three-judge panel on September 6, 2017, ha

Federal regulations currently treat tips as the employee’s property, regardless of whether the employer pays that employee the minimum wage or whether it uses a tip credit to satisfy the minimum wage requirement. Recently, the federal Department of Labor (DOL) proposed a rule that, if passed this ye

A recent federal court decision has added to the confusion surrounding the application of the U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) "home care" overtime rule and New York's "13-hour" rule regarding compensable work hours for certain home care aides. In De Carrasco v. Life Care Services, Inc., 2017 WL 640

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) in the December 5, 2017 edition of the Federal Register, with a proposal to rescind its 2011 regulations on tip pooling. The NPRM appears to be, at least in part, a response to efforts by the hospitality industry – p

Executive Summary: On December 5, 2017, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to reverse the Obama Administration’s tip rule prohibiting the distribution of tips to anyone other than the tipped-employees who earned them (available here). The Obama-era

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has issued a proposed rule to rescind the Department’s position that employers must comply with tip-pooling requirements even when paying the full minimum wage. This proposal, if finalized, would allow employers that pay employees at least the full federal minimum

In recent years, one significant issue that has plagued industries employing tipped employees is whether the employers must ensure that tipped employees retain all of their tips even if the company is not using the employee’s tips to satisfy part of the minimum wage pursuant to the FLSA’s “tip credi

After effectively “punting” on the issue last year, the U.S. Supreme Court has again granted certiorari to resolve a circuit split regarding whether “service advisors” at automobile dealerships are exempt from receiving overtime under an exemption for “salesmen, partsmen, and mechanics” under the FL

When a customer leaves a tip for a server, who receives the full amount of the tip at the end of the day? According to a 2011 Department of Labor (DOL) regulation, the tip always belongs to the server, even if the employer pays the server minimum wage. However, a recent DOL announcement in late July

On September 6, 2017, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals declined to accord deference to the U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) interpretation of its "dual jobs" regulation. The court reasoned that the interpretation, as articulated in the DOL's Field Operations Handbook (FOH), was inconsistent with t

Finding it wholly inconsistent with the statute and the regulation it purports to interpret, the Ninth Circuit has held invalid the United States Department of Labor’s “80/20” tip credit rule, or “20% Rule,” which limits the availability of the tip credit when tipped employees spend more than 20% of

Executive Summary: On September 6, in Marsh v. J. Alexander’s LLC, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals refused to give deference to the U.S. Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) tip-credit guidance under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). The guidance—commonly known as the “80/20 rule”—provides that emp

Quite a bit of effort goes into making an enjoyable restaurant experience, such as good food, prompt service and, of course, cleanliness. Want to reward the dishwashers for providing you with spotless silverware, expediters for bringing out your food while it is still hot or the chef for cooking the

Today the Trump Administration, through the Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, released the federal government’s semi-annual Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions.

Executive Summary: On June 30, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled in Marlow v. The New Food Guy, Inc. d/b/a Relish Catering (Relish) that neither the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) nor a Department of Labor (DOL) regulation requires an employer to share customers’ tips with

An online ticket broker that sells tickets to concerts, sporting events, and the theater qualifies as a “retail or service establishment” under Section 207(i) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), Judge John Lee of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois held. Blah

xecutive Summary: On January 9, 2017, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Navarro v. Encino Motorcars, for the second time, that service advisors at automotive dealerships are not exempt from overtime. In 2015, the Ninth Circuit relied on U.S. Department of Labor regulations to hold tha

The U.S. Supreme Court in 2016 granted certiorari in Encino Motorcars, LLC v. Navarro to resolve a circuit split regarding whether “service advisors” at automobile dealerships are exempt from receiving overtime under the Fair Labor Standard Act pursuant to an exemption for any “salesman, partsman, o