The US Department of Labor recently issued an opinion letter stating that workers finding work through a gig-economy platform are independent contractors, rather than employees. Earlier this week, I posted about that on LinkedIn. The DOL’s opinion letter is not law. It does provide excellent guidance on how the federal agency enforcing the Fair Labor […]
There’s No Such Thing as a Free Lunch…
Most people can work straight through an entire day without any sort of break. People need to take care of their basic needs. With the slight exception of child labor laws, federal laws do not require meal and rest breaks. Many states do, however. I can’t get into every state requirement here, and you might […]
Chicken v Egg, Overtime v Immigration Violations
You’ve heard the question before: Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Believe it or not there really is a restaurant with that name. It’s sort of in my neck of the woods — New Jersey. So here’s another question: What happens when you fail to properly record time, pay overtime, fudge the job […]
Can Federal Employees Sue the Government for Shutting Down?
I thought that might be an interesting question for this week. It’s not quite what it sounds like though, so let me explain. As you know, the federal government has been shut down since December 22, because our President and Congress can’t agree on a budget. But not all government agencies are entirely shut down. […]
Can an Employee Sue for Reduced Overtime?
A supervisor in your company just told one of his direct reports that she can no longer work voluntary overtime. She’s always put in 4 hours of work before the start of her scheduled shift. As most of you know, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires that when an employee works more than 40 […]