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• Take Action to Avoid OT Lawsuits ( February 2006 )
  

  In the 2004 calendar year, 743 collective lawsuits – that is, lawsuits brought on behalf of more than one plaintiff – were filed in federal district courts alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). This number is up from just 79 such lawsuits in 2000.

• Supremes Clarify Portal-to-Portal Act? ( December 2005 )
  

  In a recent opinion, IBP, Inc. v. Alvarez, the Supreme Court has finally provided employers with a "bright-line" test for use in deciding when activities performed by employees constitute compensable time under the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"). Not really. Instead, the Court has again applied a law intended to provide a bright-line test for employers, in a manner that does anything but provide that test.

• Timekeeping and Exempt Employees ( June 2005 )
  

  Recently, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued an opinion letter clarifying confusion about timekeeping and exempt employees. The opinion is supported by the preamble to the new DOL regulations 29, C.F.R. 541.

• Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, Equal Rights Division Increases Minimum Wage Effective June 1st ( August 2005 )
  

  Recognizing that the federal minimum wage has fallen to its lowest inflation-adjusted value of all time, and commenting that wages are "so low that workers and their families can't afford their most basic needs," the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, Equal Rights Division ("ERD") amended its labor standards rules to make significant changes to the state minimum wage requirements, including an increase to minimum wages.

• Edwards v. Audubon Insurance Group: A Case of First Impression Holding an Insurance Underwriter to Be an Exempt Administrative Employee Under the FLSA ( May 2005 )
  

  Those on the front lines of the battles over who is or is not an exempt administrative employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) or various state wage and hour laws are well aware of the deluge of cases in the past five years – many of them collective and class actions – about whether claims adjusters at insurance and other companies are exempt from overtime requirements of federal or state law.

• Florida's Minimum Wage Takes Effect May 2, 2005 ( May 2005 )
  

  Effective May 2, 2005 employers in Florida must pay hourly employees $6.15 per hour and tipped employees $3.13 per hour. The provisions of the Florida Minimum Wage dictate costly penalties for noncompliant employers.

• Paid Time Off for Partial Day Absences and Maintaining "Exempt" Employee Status ( February 2005 )
  

  On January 7, 2005, the U.S Department of Labor (DOL) issued an Opinion Letter confirming that employers may deduct less than a full day from a salaried, overtime- exempt white-collar employee's PTO bank for absences due to personal reasons, accident, or illness, without causing the loss of the exempt status of the employee. This opinion letter confirms what had been the DOL's position under the previous regulations regarding the white-collar exemptions for executive, administrative and professional employees and resolves what had become an issue under the new regulations.

• Compliance Update: Status of Federal and Wisconsin Overtime Rules ( October 2004 )
  

  On August 23, 2004, the Department of Labor's revisions to the regulations defining which employees are exempt from overtime pay under the FLSA went into effect. The most significant changes include an increase in the amount of minimum weekly salary that an employee must receive to be classified as exempt to $455 per week, a revision that makes it more difficult to classify employees as exempt.

• Significant Changes to FLSA "White Collar" Exemptions Effective August 23, 2004 ( July 2004 )
  

  Most employers are aware by now that the U. S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced sweeping changes to the regulations governing the "white collar" overtime exemptions under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The changes are slated to take effect August 23, 2004.

• The Fair Labor Standards Act: An Old Law Getting New Attention ( July 2004 )
  

  The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 ("FLSA") and the Act's implementing regulations were adopted against the backdrop of the Great Depression. In an effort to diminish the confusion concerning the FLSA, the DOL issued its long-awaited final version of its "FairPay" rules on April 20, 2004.