In Cruz v. Maypa, 773 F.3d 138 (4th Cir. 2014), the Fourth Circuit held that the limitations period for claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act was equitably tolled because the employer failed to post the required notice explaining workers’ rights under the FLSA. The decision is important because it means an employer who fails to post the...Read More

The Virginia Minimum Wage Act, VA Code § 40.1-28.8, et seq. (“VMWA”), sets minimum wage levels for certain categories of Virginia workers that are higher than the federal minimum wage.  Employer Defined The VMWA defines the “employers” it covers broadly, as including: any individual, partnership, association, corporation, or business trust or any person or group...Read More

In Conner v. Cleveland County, N. Carolina, 22 F.4th 412 (4th Cir. 2022), the Fourth Circuit held that the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) allow claims for “overtime gap time.” Overtime gap time refers to a particular type of wage-payment scheme, aimed at making employees subsidize their own overtime wages, where...Read More

The Virginia Gap Pay Act, VA Code § 9.1-700, et seq. (“VGPA”), provides that certain fire protection and law enforcement employees must be paid overtime compensation for time worked in the “gap.” The “gap” refers to the all hours of work between (a) the statutory maximum hours per work period under the Fair Labor Standards...Read More

In United States v. Darby, 312 U.S. 100, 61 S. Ct. 451 (1941), the Supreme Court held that Congress had power under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution to enact the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). The Court held that the Commerce Clause permitted Congress, through the FLSA, to regulate the working conditions of employers...Read More

The Virginia Overtime Wage Act (“VOWA”) requires employers to pay covered employees overtime compensation. In some ways, the VOWA is similar to the overtime provisions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. In other ways, including the calculation of overtime rates for salaried employees, the availability of triple damages, and the time period for which...Read More

In Garcia v. San Antonio Metro. Transit Auth., 469 U.S. 528, 105 S. Ct. 1005 (1985), the Supreme Court held that Congress had power under the Commerce Clause to apply the Fair Labor Standards Act to a municipal transit authority. The case is important because it overruled a previous landmark decision and clarified that the...Read More

Virginia’s Anti-Blacklisting Law, VA Code § 40.1-27, generally prohibits employers from willfully or maliciously preventing or attempting to prevent a former employee from obtaining new employment. While the statute does not describe a private cause of action, the conduct it prohibits could give rise to common law claims of tortious interference with contractual relationships or...Read More

Virginia’s Medicinal Cannabis Oil Employment Law (MCOEL), VA Code § 40.1-27.4, generally prohibits employers from disciplining employees for engaging in lawful medicinal use of cannabis oil. The law, however, contains several exceptions that allow employers to terminate or otherwise take adverse action against employees whose use of medicinal cannabis causes work impairment or would cause...Read More

In Perez v. Mortgage Bankers Ass’n, 575 U.S. 92, 135 S. Ct. 1199 (2015), the Supreme Court held that an agency, like the Department of Labor, is not required to use notice-and-comment procedures when it wishes to issue a new interpretation of a regulation that deviates significantly from one the agency has previously adopted. The...Read More