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”...Read More

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...Read More

Virginia’s Misclassification Anti-Retaliation Law, Va. Code § 40.1-33.1 (“MARL,” titled “Retaliatory actions prohibited; civil penalty”), provides that employers shall not discharge, penalize, or take any retaliatory action against an employee or independent contractor for reporting, or planning to report, to an appropriate authority an employer’s failure to properly classify an individual as an employee and failure to...Read More

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...Read More