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The Modern Workplace

The Modern Workplace

  • Posts by Rebecca "Beckie" S. Yocum
    Counsel

    Beckie Yocum is an experienced litigator who has successfully defended clients in state and federal courts across the country. She concentrates her litigation practice in the areas of labor and employment, business, real estate ...

The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) announced a final rule revising its guidance on how to analyze whether a worker is properly classified as an employee or independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”).  The final rule rescinds the DOL’s 2021 independent contractor rule and takes effect on March 11, 2024.

The FLSA requires, among other things, covered employers to pay nonexempt employees at least the federal minimum wage for all hours worked and overtime pay for every hour worked over 40 in a workweek. These FLSA protections do not apply to independent ...

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Posted in Labor & Unions

On October 26, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) issued its Final Rule addressing the Standard for Determining Joint Employer Status under the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”). The Final Rule rescinds the prior rule enacted in 2020 and expands the scope of joint employment by including indirect control in the joint-employer standard.

The Final Rule establishes that, under the NLRA, two or more entities may be considered joint employers of a group of employees if each entity has an employment relationship with the employees and if the entities share or ...

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Posted in Wage & Hour

In a recent opinion (Helix Energy Sols. Grp., Inc. v Hewitt), the Supreme Court held that a highly compensated supervisor paid on a daily-rate basis was not an executive exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA) overtime pay requirement because he was not paid on a salary basis.

Hewitt, an offshore oil rig supervisor, filed the action against his former employer, Helix Energy Solutions Group, seeking overtime pay under the FLSA which guarantees overtime pay to covered employees when they work more than 40 hours in a workweek. Hewitt was paid on a daily-rate basis from 2014 to ...

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In June 2022, in S.W. Airlines Co. v. Saxon, 142 S. Ct. 1783 (2022), the Supreme Court weighed in on the scope of arbitration agreements in employment contracts for transportation workers. Saxon, a ramp supervisor at Southwest Airlines who worked loading and unloading cargo from aircrafts, brought a putative class action against Southwest for allegedly violating the Fair Labor Standards Act by not providing ramp workers with overtime compensation despite requiring them to work over forty hours a week. Southwest argued that Saxon was bound by the arbitration provision in Saxon’s ...

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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”), some individuals may experience post-COVID-19 conditions that involve a wide range of long-term health problems. Per the CDC, these post COVID-19 conditions may be known as “long COVID, long-haul COVID, post-acute COVID-19, long-term effects of COVID, or chronic COVID.” [1] These long-COVID symptoms can include:

  • Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
  • Tiredness or fatigue
  • Symptoms that get worse after physical or mental activities
  • Difficulty thinking or concentrating (sometimes referred to ...
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The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently published additional frequently asked questions and answers (FAQs) regarding the need to report employees in-patient hospitalizations and fatalities resulting from work-related cases of the coronavirus. These FAQs reverse OSHAs previously issued guidance that, for cases of COVID-19, the work-related incident triggering reporting requirements was the employees positive diagnosis. Now, the triggering event is the employees exposure to the coronavirus at work.
 
Employers are required under ...
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This week, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed First Amendment protections for religious institutions in the hiring and firing of employees who play an important role in carrying out the institutions religious mission. In Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru, the Court upheld the dismissal of employment discrimination claims brought by two teachers against their Catholic school employers under the ministerial exception, a legal doctrine that prohibits courts from getting involved in employment disputes between religious institutions and their ministerial ...
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