Employer Law Blog

For the last 40 years, most courts have required court approval of settlements under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for their releases of claims to be valid and enforceable. This requirement stemmed from the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals’ opinion in a case from 1982 styled Lynn’s Food Stores, Inc. v. United States, wherein the court concluded court approval of settlements was necessary under the FLSA to ensure their fairness.

Recently, in Hernandez v. Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations, LLC, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held that where overtime is considered mandatory an employer may deduct missed shifts from an employee's allotted intermittent leave allotment under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA), but that the employer must also include mandatory overtime hours when calculating an employee's total FMLA-leave allotment. Failure to do so constitutes an FMLA interference claim.

As we previously reported, the minimum salary amount for an exempt employee since 2004 was $455/week or $23,660/annually. On July 6, 2015, the DOL announced its proposed rule which, in part, would mandate that employers have to pay an exempt employee a minimum salary of $970.00/week, or $50,440/annually.

To be classified as an employee exempt from overtime, an employee must perform certain exempt duties and responsibilities, such as those customarily performed by an executive, professional or administrative employee. In addition to performing the requisite managerial duties, an employer is required to pay the individual a minimum guaranteed weekly salary. If the employee does not receive this minimum weekly salary, the employee is treated as an hourly employee, regardless of their duties, and must be paid overtime for all hours worked in excess of 40 hours during the workweek.