Category

FLSA
In United States v. Silk, 331 U.S. 704 (1947), the Supreme Court applied a multi-factor test for determining whether workers were independent contractors or employees. The case is important because, inter alia, these “Silk factors” came to be applied in cases under the Fair Labor Standards Act to determine whether the economic realities show that workers are “employees” for...
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The Fair Labor Standards Act requires covered employers to pay minimum wages and overtime compensation to certain categories of employees. These requirements involve a determination as to the employee’s regular or overtime hourly rate of pay. As explained below, FLSA regulations provide that, generally speaking, fees, expenses or other charges that the employer requires the employee to...
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In Rutherford Food Corp. v. McComb, 331 U.S. 722 (1947), the Supreme Court held that the meat boners working in a slaughterhouse, who worked under a contract, owned their own tools, and were paid collectively based on their production, which pay they divided among themselves, were “employees” of the slaughterhouse within the meaning of the Fair Labor...
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The Fair Labor Standards Act requires covered employers to pay minimum wages and overtime compensation to certain categories of employees. These requirements involve a determination as to the number of hours an employee “works” each workweek. As explained below, the FLSA generally requires that compensable working time include any time that an employee is suffered or permitted...
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The Fair Labor Standards Act requires covered employers to pay minimum wages and overtime compensation to certain categories of employees. These requirements involve a determination as to the number of hours an employee “works” each workweek. As explained below, the FLSA generally requires that compensable working time include any time that an employee is suffered or permitted...
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In Goldberg v. Whitaker House Co-op., Inc., 366 U.S. 28, 81 S. Ct. 933, 6 L. Ed. 2d 100 (1961), the Supreme Court held that members of a knitting cooperative who performed “homework,” were paid on a piece-rate basis to make items for the co-op, and who were subject to expulsion for substandard work, were “employees”...
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In Helix Energy Sols. Grp., Inc. v. Hewitt, 143 S. Ct. 677 (2023), the Supreme Court held that the salary-basis test for certain exemptions to the Fair Labor Standards Act is not met when the employee at issue is paid a day rate, even when the day rate exceeds the required minimum weekly salary level. More specifically, the...
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In Harbourt v. PPE Casino Resorts Maryland, LLC, 820 F.3d 655 (4th Cir. 2016) the Fourth Circuit held that under the Fair Labor Standards Act, compensable “work,” for which the FLSA requires employers to pay at least minimum wage, broadly encompasses physical or mental exertion, whether burdensome or not, controlled or required by the employer primarily for its...
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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...
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In the oldie-but-goldie decision of Steiner v. Mitchell, 350 U.S. 247 (1956), the Supreme Court held that time workers spend on activities performed before or after regular working hours is compensable under the Fair Labor Standards Act, if the activities are “integral and indispensable parts of the principal activity” of the worker’s employment. This holding, and the...
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