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As has been widely reported, including in our February E-Update, the National Labor Relations Board recently asserted that severance agreements may not contain general non-disparagement or confidentiality/non-disclosure clauses, based on its premise that such clauses violate the rights of employees under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act to […]

On February 22, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. v. Hewitt, clarifying that, in order to qualify for the highly compensated employee (HCE) exemption from the Fair Labor Standard Act’s overtime mandate, the employee must be paid on a salary basis, and […]

In the latest salvo in the battle over the classification of workers as independent contractors or employees, the U.S. Department of Labor announced the publication of a new proposed interpretation. The final document set forth in  Notice of Proposed Rulemaking will not be an actual rule or regulation, because the […]

Maryland’s highest court has ruled that the federal Portal-to-Portal Act has not been adopted or incorporated into Maryland’s Wage and Hour Law, Wage Payment and Collection Law, or the corresponding state regulations – meaning that employers may be responsible for more wages for their Maryland employees under state law than […]

A new federal law allows employees to avoid arbitration agreements with respect to sexual harassment or sexual assault claims.  The Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021 applies to pre-dispute arbitration agreements, such as those included in employment contracts or stand-alone arbitration agreements entered into […]

In addition to the voluntary extension of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act’s paid leave provisions, which we discussed in our December 22, 2020 E-lert, the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (the Act), included in the massive (5593 page) stimulus bill signed into law on December 27, 2020, […]

The U.S. Department of the Treasury issued, on August 28, 2020, a Notice concerning President Trump’s Presidential Memorandum concerning employers’ deferral of payroll taxes.  Here are the key points: The Presidential Memorandum permits employers to defer the withholding and payment of FICA taxes, which consist of the 6.2 percent social […]

President Trump issued, on August 8, 2020, Memoranda and Executive Orders concerning unemployment insurance, payroll tax withholding, evictions, and student loans.  Below, we discuss the two employment-related Presidential Memoranda (which have been incorrectly designated Executive Orders in the media, although there is little technical distinction between the two).  Neither requires […]

Bonuses, shift differentials, hazard pay, commissions and other add-ons do not preclude use of the fluctuating workweek method of computing overtime, according to a U.S. Department of Labor interpretive regulation issued May 20, 2020. The fluctuating workweek (FWW) method of computing overtime is an alternative method of computing overtime for […]

Apparently inspired by the tidying up trend, the Department of Labor threw out two sections of its interpretation concerning the commission sales exemption from overtime that no longer gave it joy.  The commission sales exemption covers sales employees who are primarily paid by commission.  To come under the exemption, the […]