The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage & Hour Division (WHD) has issued four new opinion letters under the Fair Labor Standards Act. These letters give employers clear guidance on how WHD will handle common compliance questions during investigations and audits. While opinion letters do not create new laws, they often indicate how the agency
Several years ago, I saw Bruce Springsteen in concert. (Remember those?)
It was over three hours long and by the time we were done, I remember turning to my friend and saying, “Now THAT was a concert.”
Then, a few years back, we were in New York for the weekend (remember weekends away?) and Bette
From time to time, I have a conversation on this blog (titled “The Dialogue”) with Nina Pirrotti, a prominent labor & employment attorney representing employees in the New Haven area.
With all of us now working from home for the foreseeable future, Nina and I thought we’d bring back this recurring feature — with a
Trying to follow both state and federal wage and hour laws isn’t that hard.
But it isn’t that easy either.
Let’s say you’re a restaurant with a waitstaff. Like most restaurants nowadays, your customers pay by credit card and you, the employer, have to pay the credit card company a percentage on each sale.
You
Your employee that you are firing should not hear about his firing from a television report first.
I suppose that would seem an obvious rule to follow. But apparently not.
Let me back up.
Earlier today, the President fired FBI Director James Comey — an act that
The Connecticut Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision that will be officially released April 4, 2017, has ruled that employers may not use the “tip credit” for pizza delivery drivers and therefore, the employees must be paid the standard minimum wage.
You can download the decision in Amaral Brothers, Inc. v. Department of Labor here.
In yesterday’s post, I talked about some of the reasons why an employee’s lawsuit against his or her employer was destined for failure.
But employers, I’m afraid you’re not off the hook that easily. This post is for any employer that just got sued or threatened with suit.
Maybe that lawsuit isn’t so frivolous after all.
Wait a second! You said yesterday that ‘Odds are, you probably weren’t discriminated against’!”
Ah, but isn’t that rub? Odds. Statistics. Yes, some (many?) lawsuits brought by employees are losing propositions. But some are not.
Here are some things I tell clients or prospective clients when I see a lawsuit filed or threatened as to why they should take the lawsuit seriously.
1. That frivolous lawsuit is still going to cost you thousands (if not tens of thousands) to defend. But I thought you said this post was about non-frivolous lawsuits? True. But for my first point, that’s beside the point entirely. Whether a lawsuit is frivolous or not, the system of justice through our courts and administrative agencies moves slowly and with some cautiousness. Even the frivolous ones need to be defended. Court filings need to be, well, filed. And court conferences need to be attended. So your first point always is to recognize that all employment law cases have a cost associated with them.
And as such, all cases have what we call a “nuisance” value as well. That is — you are going to spend X amount of dollars defending the lawsuit. It may be cheaper to just pay a certain amount to avoid the cost of defense. Now, there are business reasons why you won’t want to do so in all or even many cases, but the employer who fails to recognize the nuisance value of the case is destined to be disappointed in the long run.
It’s a bit of hyperbole to say that any person can sue anyone at any time for any reason. But not that much. Lawsuits are a part of doing business. Frivolous or not, you will still have spend money to defend your decision. Be prepared for this eventuality when making your employment decisions and deciding whether or not to offer severance in exchange for a release.
2. “At Will” Employment Is a Misnomer. In Connecticut, the default employment relationship between an employer and employee is “at-will”. As many offer letters suggest, that means either the employer or employee can terminate the employment relationship at any time for any reason or no reason at all. And so, I sometimes hear employers exclaiming “Connecticut is at-will! We should be able to just fire them for any reason! How can they still sue?”Continue Reading Maybe That Lawsuit Brought By Your Employee Isn’t So Frivolous
No one will ever mistake the Connecticut Legal Conference, run by the Connecticut Bar Association, for, say a glitzy gaming conference. But if you were fortunate to attend, you had the opportunity to hear some pretty good speakers talk about employment law for several hours.
Among
On New Year’s Day, I had the opportunity to launch model rockets with my son on a gorgeous (but very cold) day.
As it turns out, it was also a windy day. We discovered this through launching two rockets super high — only to see them carried away deep into the woods a mile away.
Next week, one of my colleagues, Peter Murphy will be at the Connecticut Bar Association to present a program entitled “CHRO 101 – From Complaint to Public Hearing”. Full details are available at the CBA website.
The program includes a discussion of