The Fair Labor Standards Act requires covered employers to pay minimum wages and overtime compensation to certain categories of employees. However, the law contains several exceptions or “exemptions” from these requirements, most of which turn on a combination of the employees’ pay and the nature of their job duties. For example, Section 13(a)(1) of the FLSA provides an “exemption”...Read More

In Darveau v. Detecon, Inc., 515 F.3d 334 (4th Cir. 2008), the Fourth Circuit held that an employee could be protected by the anti-retaliation provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act when a former employer responded to the employee’s overtime lawsuit by filing a counterclaim against the employee without a reasonable basis in fact or law....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

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 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

Tim Coffield, attorney, discusses protections for employee pay through the Virginia Wage Protection Act.Read More