- Written by: PLDR
With the November 5, 2024 election quickly approaching, many employers may be wondering if they are required to grant paid or unpaid leave to allow employees time to vote. There is no such requirement under Virginia or Federal law, however employers are encouraged to make reasonable decisions, especially with employees whose work hours conflict with polling times on election day. Keep in mind, absentee and early voting options are available in most jurisdictions.
There are protections under Virginia law for persons serving as a member of a local electoral board, as deputy general registrar, or an officer of election. Those individuals shall neither be discharged from employment nor have any adverse personnel action taken against them, nor shall they be required to use sick leave or vacation time, as a result of their absence from employment due to service at a polling place on election day or at a meeting of the electoral board following the election to ascertain the results of such election, provided they gave reasonable notice to their employer of such service.
If you have questions regarding paid or unpaid leave for your employees, or any other employment matters, please contact the employment attorneys at PLDR.
- Written by: PLDR
The Department of Labor’s new overtime rule will take effect on Monday, July 1, 2024, increasing the baseline salary for the so called “white collar” exemptions to $43,888 annually, or $844 per week. This will cause many exempt employees to become non-exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act, making them eligible for minimum wage and overtime pay.
To avoid paying overtime, employers need to either raise the salary of affected employees, or limit their work to 40 hours per week. The threshold will again increase on Jan 1, 2025 to $58,656 or $1,128 per week, and again on July 1, 2027, and every three years thereafter. Several lawsuits have been filed challenging the rule, however employers must comply with the rule in its current form. We will update you regarding the status of the January 1 increase once a decision is made on the lawsuits challenging the rule. In the meantime, please reach out to us if you have questions regarding how the rule currently affects your business.
- Written by: PLDR
The Department of Labor’s new overtime rule set to take effect on July 1, 2024 generally raises the salary threshold for the so-called “white collar” exemptions. This rule applies to private employers and non-profit employers who are subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). However, it is important to remember that not all non-profits are subject to the FLSA. Coverage of non-profits under the FLSA is usually achieved in two ways: (1) the organization is a covered enterprise; or (2) a particular worker is individually covered.
- Written by: PLDR
The U.S. Department of Labor has increased the Fair Labor Standards Act's (FLSA's) annual salary-level threshold from $35,568 to $58,656 as of Jan. 1, 2025, for white-collar exemptions to overtime requirements. Effective July 1, 2024, the salary threshold will increase to $43,888. Employees making less than the salary-level threshold, such as hourly workers, can be eligible for overtime if they work enough hours.
- Written by: PLDR
FTC takes on Noncompetes
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently approved a final rule banning most new noncompete clauses in employment contracts—a sweeping change affecting millions of workers. The rule also makes all existing noncompete agreements—except for those covering senior executives—unenforceable and requires employers to provide notice to current and former workers that their noncompete clauses are no longer in effect. The rule goes into effect 120 days following its publication in the Federal Register. Enforcement could be further delayed by anticipated legal challenges.
- Written by: PLDR
EEOC clarifies rights for Pregnant Workers
On April 15 the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued final regulations for implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), a law that that went into effect on June 27, 2023. The PWFA requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions unless the accommodation would cause the employer an undue hardship. The law applies to employers with 15 or more employees.
- Written by: John E. Falcone
The proposed rule previously issued by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to clarify who qualifies as an independent contractor under the federal wage and hour law was issued as a final rule today, January 9. The rule will take effect on March 11. The federal rule concerning independent contractors has been confusing in recent years because it has periodically been revised depending upon whether a Democratic or Republican presidential administration has been in power. The new rule will make it more difficult to classify workers as independent contractors.
- Written by: John E. Falcone
A few months ago, we notified you about the U.S. Department of Labor‘s proposed new rule to increase the salary level for an employee to be exempt from overtime pay. The salary level is one of the requirements that must be met for an employee to be exempt. The proposed new rule would raise the required salary level to $1,059 per week ($55,068 per year for a full-time worker). The increase reflects the 35th percentile of weekly earnings of full-time salaried workers in the lowest-wage census region (currently the South). The DOL has now announced that it anticipates finalizing the rule in April, 2024.
- Written by: John E. Falcone
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently released a final rule that expands the standard for determining when two employers that conduct business together are considered to be joint employers, thus being liable for each other’s unfair labor practices and labor law violations. Under the old rule, an employer could be considered a joint employer if it had “direct and immediate control” over the essential terms and conditions of employment, such as wages, benefits, work hours, hiring, firing, discipline, direction and supervision. The new rule provides that two entities are considered joint employers if they share or co-determine an employee’s essential terms and conditions of employment.
- Written by: John E. Falcone
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires employers to pay overtime compensation when nonexempt employees work more than forty hours in a week. Longstanding regulations interpreting the FLSA permit employers to "round" an employee's clocked start and end times for ease in calculating time worked. Time clocks are not required, but when time clocks or an automated system are used, rounding time must not result in systematic or routine underpayment "over a period of time" for work performed.
The actual regulation is 29 C.F.R. § 785.48(b):
(b) “Rounding practices.” It has been found that in some industries, particularly where time clocks are used, there has been the practice for many years of recording the employees' starting time and stopping time to the nearest 5 minutes, or to the nearest one-tenth or quarter of an hour. Presumably, this arrangement averages out so that the employees are fully compensated for all the time they actually work. For enforcement purposes this practice of computing working time will be accepted, provided that it is used in such a manner that it will not result, over a period of time, in failure to compensate the employees properly for all the time they have actually worked.
An example of a rounding practice from a recent case involved an automated timekeeping system in which employees clock in and out at the beginning and end of their shifts. The system records the exact times in and out, and then applies a rounding policy. Clocked times within 6 minutes of a shift’s scheduled start or end are rounded to the scheduled time for compensation purposes. For example, an employee who clocks in at 8:56 a.m. for a 9:00 a.m. shift would not be paid for those four minutes. Likewise, an employee who clocks out early at 4:54 p.m. for a shift ending at 5:00 p.m. would still be paid for those unworked six minutes.
The regulations do not define precisely what constitutes “over a period of time”, and courts that have examined this issue also have not adopted a precise standard. Many of the cases examine a contested rounding practice over the period of one year, and some apply even longer periods.
A facially neutral timekeeping system that rounds employee time up or down is permissible as long as it does not result in undercompensation over the long run. It is the long-term average that counts.
John Falcone and Luke Malloy handle employment law matters at PLDR Law. Feel free to contact us if you have questions about this matter.
- Written by: John E. Falcone
Political and religious discussions in the workplace are increasingly causing problems for employers in these contentious times. Employees often have strong opinions about those topics, and expressing those opinions can cause workplace discord.
