Call Us 919-240-4054In this case, plaintiffs are bringing collective action claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) based on the under-payment of wages and overtime at Smithfield Packing’s Tar Heel, North Carolina meat processing facility. Magistrate Judge Gates issued an opinion last week recommending that defendant’s motion to decertify the FLSA collective action be denied. If his recommendation […]
FLSA
Government enforcing child labor and wage laws for farmworkers in North Carolina
The New York Times has this article about the Obama Administration’s effort to enforce the child labor and wage and hour laws on farms, and describes the effort in North Carolina in particular. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) contains several exceptions for farmworkers, but sometimes-ignored restrictions of child labor are apparently now being more vigorously […]
Ninth Circuit rejects tip-pooling claims of servers making more than minimum wage before tips
In a case that appears to one of first impression at the federal appellate level, the Ninth Circuit ruled in Cumbie v. Woody Woo, Inc. that there are no tip-pooling claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for restaurant employees who are paid more than the minimum wage before tips. FLSA, the federal wage […]
DOL concerned about unpaid internships, and new protection for nursing mothers
The federal Department of Labor is stepping up enforcement of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) with regard to unpaid internships because such arrangements very well could be violating the FLSA’s minimum wage requirements. In other FLSA news, the Health Care Reform legislation (technically the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) contained a little-noticed provision […]
Recent Fourth Circuit labor and employment decisions
The Fourth Circuit has published opinions in three labor and employment cases in recent weeks. The first case, Sepulveda v. Allen Family Foods, Inc., concerned a Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) collective action that was brought on behalf of a class of current and former employees of a chicken processing plant. The employees claimed, among other things, […]
Ninth Circuit says individual managers can be held responsible for FLSA violations, regardless of bankruptcy
In Boucher v. Shaw, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that individual managers/owners — in this case a hotel’s CEO, CFO, and labor/employment manager — may be held liable for unpaid wages, vacation, and holiday pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The FLSA allows suits to be brought against individuals, in addition […]