In this case, plaintiffs are bringing collective action claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) based on the under-payment of wages and overtime at Smithfield Packing’s Tar Heel, North Carolina meat processing facility.  Magistrate Judge Gates issued an opinion last week recommending that defendant’s motion to decertify the FLSA collective action be denied.  If his recommendation is approved by the district judge, the case will proceed to trial as a collective action.  The plaintiffs are represented by several lawyers, including Ann Groninger.

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Categories: Judicial Decisions, Results Tags: Ann Groninger, Case Commentary, Class Certification, Collective Action, EDNC, FLSA, Labor and Employment, North Carolina, Smithfield Packing, Unpaid Wages, Wage and Hour

The New York Times has this article about the Obama Administration’s effort to enforce the child labor and wage and hour laws on farms, and describes the effort in North Carolina in particular.  The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) contains several exceptions for farmworkers, but sometimes-ignored restrictions of child labor are apparently now being more vigorously enforced.

Categories: General News Tags: Child Labor, Fair Labor Standards Act, Farm Workers, FLSA, Labor and Employment, Minimum Wage, North Carolina

In a case that appears to one of first impression at the federal appellate level, the Ninth Circuit ruled in Cumbie v. Woody Woo, Inc., that there are no tip-pooling claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for restaurant employees who are paid more than the minimum wage before tips.  FLSA, the federal wage and hour law, regulates how tips can be distributed and/or shared as part of its regulation of the minimum wage.  As restaurants commonly do, servers can be paid a small base amount and make the rest of their wages in tips.  Properly arranged, the tips paid to the servers are a “tip credit” for the employers that combines with the base pay to meet the minimum wage.  An employer can use a “tip pool” as part of its tipping system if it meets two requirements: (1) the employee is fully informed; and (2) the tip pool only includes “other customarily tipped employees.”  Disputes often involve this second requirement, e.g. if tips are shared with managers (who are not customarily tipped).

Reading the FLSA in this way, the Court held that because the servers in this case (who had brought a class and collective action case) were receiving a base pay that was already greater than the minimum wage, the employer was not taking advantage of the “tip credit,” and therefore did not have follow the tip-pooling regulations.  Of course, if the servers’ base pay had been less than minimum wage, the outcome would be entirely different.  (Also note that different analysis may apply under the North Carolina Wage and Hour Act.)

Categories: Judicial Decisions Tags: Case Commentary, Class Action, Collective Action, Fair Labor Standards Act, FLSA, Labor and Employment, Minimum Wage, NCWHA, Ninth Circuit, Tip Credit, Tip Pooling

In Simmons v. United Mortgage and Loan Investment, LLC, we have filed this reply brief with the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in this wage and hour case.  See here for a summary of the case.   Ann Groninger, Burton Craige, and Narendra Ghosh are representing the plaintiffs, who are seeking to remedy the company’s failure to pay overtime to themselves and other Junior Asset Managers.  Here is a summary of our argument to the Court:

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Categories: News of the Firm Tags: Ann Groninger, Appeals, Briefs, Burton Craige, Class Action, Collective Action, FLSA, Fourth Circuit, Labor and Employment, Narendra Ghosh, NC Wage and Hour Act, Overtime, Wage and Hour

In Simmons v. United Mortgage and Loan Investment, LLC, we have filed this opening brief with the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in this wage and hour case.  The plaintiffs are Charlotte-based Junior Asset Managers for a mortgage company who were not paid overtime even though they worked more than 40 hours per week.  They brought claims under the FLSA and NC Wage and Hour law based on the failure to pay overtime.  The primary issue is whether the plaintiffs will be able to pursue their case as a collective and class action on behalf the other underpaid workers at the company.  The defendants have tried to short-circuit the collective/class action process by tendering a limited settlement offer before other workers could be notified of the case.  Ann Groninger, Burton Craige, and Narendra Ghosh are representing the plaintiffs. Read more…

Categories: News of the Firm Tags: Ann Groninger, Appeals, Burton Craige, Class Action, Collective Action, FLSA, Fourth Circuit, Labor and Employment, Narendra Ghosh, North Carolina Wage and Hour Act, Overtime, Wage and Hour

The federal Department of Labor is stepping up enforcement of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) with regard to unpaid internships because such arrangements very well could be violating the FLSA’s minimum wage requirements.

In other FLSA news, the Health Care Reform legislation (technically the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) contained a little-noticed provision that requires employers to provide breaks for nursing mothers.  The amendment will require all employers subject to the FLSA to provide rest breaks to mothers who wish to express breast milk.  The new law states that employers with fewer than 50 employees are not required to provide the breaks “if such requirements would impose an undue hardship by causing the employer significant difficulty or expense when considered in relation to the size, financial resources, nature, or structure of the employer’s business.”  DOL regulations explicating the provision are sure to follow.

Categories: Legislative Action Tags: FLSA, Interships, Labor and Employment, Minimum Wage, Nursing Breaks, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

The Fourth Circuit has published opinions in three labor and employment cases in recent weeks.  The first case, Sepulveda v. Allen Family Foods, Inc., concerned a Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) collective action that was brought on behalf of a class of current and former employees of a chicken processing plant.  The employees claimed, among other things, that the company had violated the FLSA by not compensating them for time spent donning and doffing their protective gear before and after their shifts.  There is a specific exception in FLSA for cases regarding compensable time for “changing clothes” when the employees are represented by a union that has negotiated a collective bargaining unit.  The Court held that putting on and taking off protecting gear was “changing clothes,” so the exception applied because these plaintiffs had a union, and so judgment was rightly granted to the employer.

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Categories: Judicial Decisions Tags: Case Commentary, Collective Action, Concerted Activity, FLSA, Fourth Circuit, Labor and Employment, NLRB, Retaliation, Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Union, Wage and Hour

A recent Wall Street Journal article highlights the trend of more retaliation cases being filed with the EEOC, and likely the courts.  In addition to retaliation claims that are filed with the EEOC (i.e. retaliation related to race, sex, disability, etc. discrimination), many other federal laws have anti-retaliation provisins (such as the Fair Labor Standards Act), as do several North Carolina laws (most importantly, the Retaliatory Employment Discrimination Act).  As shown in the graphs in the article, more discrimination claims overall are also being filed in these times of greater layoffs.

Categories: General News Tags: EEOC, Fair Labor Standards Act, FLSA, Labor and Employment, REDA, Retaliation, Retaliatory Employment Discrimination Act

In Boucher v. Shaw, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that individual managers/owners — in this case a hotel’s CEO, CFO, and labor/employment manager — may be held liable for unpaid wages, vacation, and holiday pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).  The FLSA allows suits to be brought against individuals, in addition to the employer-company itself, in certain cases.  Specifically, individuals can be on the hook if they “exercise control over the nature and structure of the employment relationship,” such as the managers here.   Significantly, the court also held that even though the company had gone into bankruptcy, the claims against the individual managers could proceed all the same.  The bankruptcy affects claims against the company, but not claims against the individual managers.  This is an important principle for workers who are cheated out of wages by failing companies.

Categories: Judicial Decisions Tags: Bankruptcy, Case Commentary, Fair Labor Standards Act, FLSA, Labor and Employment, Lost Wages, Manager Liability, Ninth Circuit

In Desmond v. PNGI Charles Town Gaming, the Fourth Circuit reversed the trial court, concluding instead that the plaintiff was not exempt from being paid overtime as an administrative employee.  Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), one of the “white collar” exceptions to the overtime requirement is the administrative exception.  An administrative position is “office or non-manual work directly related to the management or general business operations of the employer or the employer’s customers” that involves a significant amount of independant discretion.

In this case, the plaintiff was a racing official for a casino and live horse racing facility.  The trial court had found the plaintiff to be an administrative employee because his position was indispensable to the business.  The Fourth Circuit found otherwise, as the plaintiff’s position did not involve the company’s general business operations, but rather was similar to positions on a manufacturing production line or selling a product in a retail or service establishment.  Therefore, he was entitled to overtime.

Categories: Judicial Decisions Tags: Case Commentary, FLSA, Fourth Circuit, Labor and Employment, Overtime, Wage and Hour, White Collar Exceptions