Minimum Wage

Federal Court Holds that Georgia Entertainment Worker is an “Employee” Under FSLA

January 16, 2019 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

There are several different issues that may arise in a Georgia wage and hour case. One of these issues is the question of whether a worker has been properly classified as an employee or as an independent contractor.

This is an important distinction because independent contractors are usually exempt from the requirements of federal law concerning matters like minimum wage and overtime.

Facts

The plaintiff in a recent case was a dancer who alleged that the defendant entertainment establishment owners had failed to pay her in accordance with the Fair Labor Standards Act, (FLSA), codified at U.S.C. § 201 et seq. According to the plaintiff, the defendants misclassified her as an “independent contractor” when she was, in fact, an employee who was entitled to receive minimum wage under FLSA.

Meeting the Requirements of the FLSA While Employing Commission-Only Employees in Tennessee

October 16, 2017 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

Employers may sometimes be faced with the need to get creative when their preferred methods for compensating workers don’t necessarily mesh neatly with statutory requirements. For example, balancing an interest in compensating sales workers solely on commission may sometimes present challenges when it comes to remaining compliant with the Fair Labor Standards Act and minimum wage requirements. A case recently decided by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals is very informative for Tennessee employers and employees in clarifying which policies will, and which won’t, trigger a FLSA violation problem. If you have questions about this area of the law, our Tennessee FLSA lawyers are ready to advise you. Continue reading ›

Church Appeals $388K Award of Back Wages Owed to ‘Volunteers’ at Restaurant

September 6, 2017 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

The Fair Labor Standards Act provides protections for workers when it comes to minimum wage as well as overtime. The FLSA’s protections are wide-reaching and contain few exceptions. Nevertheless, a church attempted to evade the law by having its buffet restaurant staffed mostly by unpaid “volunteers.” The U.S. Department of Labor sued the church and obtained $388,000 in back-owed wages for the workers, cleveland.com reported. The victory for the Labor Department demonstrates that, even if you worked for a religious employer, and even if you perhaps “thought” you were a volunteer, you may still be entitled to wages. An experienced Tennessee wage-and-hour attorney can help you decide if you have a case. Continue reading ›

11th Circuit Allows Employees to Bring FLSA Collective Action and State Class Action in One Case

October 26, 2016 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

A recent ruling by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals is an important one for Georgia employers and employees to note, since it may affect some potential minimum wage and overtime cases. In the new decision, the 11th Circuit decided that it would join numerous other circuits in concluding that the Fair Labor Standards Act does not prohibit employees from bringing a case that contains within it both a FLSA collective action and a state-law class action.

Georgia Employer Allowed to Keep Some of Employees’ Tips as Long as Employees Received Minimum Wage

September 14, 2016 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

A decision from a federal court in Atlanta this summer became the latest in a group to reject a recently created regulation by the U.S. Department of Labor declaring tips to be the property of employees in all circumstances, regardless of whether the tips were needed to raise the employee’s pay to a level that satisfied the minimum wage. The court decided that the plain language of the Fair Labor Standards Act is clear that employers are only required to hand over tip money when they pay a base wage below the applicable minimum wage.

Eleventh Circuit Rules that Engineer Can’t Use Minimum Wage Law to Attack Employer’s Withholding of Final Pay

July 13, 2016 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

A recent 11th Circuit Court of Appeals case addressed the unusual question of whether an employer can go from exempt to non-exempt based upon the employer’s decision to withhold pay as part of an employment dispute. In the 11th Circuit ruling, it decided that, in this case, the employee remained exempt and could not pursue his employer for minimum wage law violations. The employee’s case was a matter for the state courts under a breach of contract cause of action, rather than a matter for a federal court under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

U.S. Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Case, Meaning Home Health Workers Remain Entitled to Minimum Wage, Overtime Protections

June 28, 2016 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

A late June decision by the U.S. Supreme Court not to take a case pursued by several trade association groups means that a revised regulation expanding minimum wage and overtime protections to almost two million additional home care workers will stand. The high court’s refusal to hear the case leaves intact a D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling from last year that determined that the U.S. Department of Labor validly exercised its authority to create wage-and-hour regulations when it decided to redefine who is, and who is not, an exempt “companion services” worker.

Georgia Exotic Dancer Launches New FLSA Lawsuit Against Athens Club

January 13, 2016 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

A woman who previously worked as an exotic dancer at an Athens club recently launched a class action lawsuit accusing her former employer of violating the Fair Labor Standards Act. According to the former employee, the club improperly withheld wages, overtime pay, and tips by improperly classifying her as an independent contractor when she was really an employee, the Athens Banner-Herald reported on its website, OnlineAthens.com. The Athens case is the latest in a string of lawsuits in which exotic dancers have challenged the legality of the way their clubs pay them.

In the recent case, Christie Burrell danced for three years at Toppers International Showbar, a well-known club in downtown Athens. During her entire employment, the club classified Burrell and all its other dancers as independent contractors, not employees. By doing so, the club avoided some of the requirements the FLSA imposes on employers regarding the payment of employees, specifically compliance with minimum wage and overtime rules. Burrell’s action claimed that, even though the club permitted, and sometimes demanded, dancers to work 40 hours or more per week, the dancers never received wages or overtime. Instead, the only compensation the dancers at the club received was their tips. To make matters worse, the club allegedly didn’t even pay the dancers all of the tips they earned, since the club engaged in “siphoning away” part of that money “to distribute to non-tip eligible employees.”

Georgia Supreme Court Says Home Care Workers Covered by State’s Minimum Wage Law

December 4, 2015 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

In a unanimous decision, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled in November that home care workers who are employed by third-party service providers and perform their jobs in the homes of the employers’ clients are not exempt from the Georgia minimum wage law. The employees, who may have opened the door for similar claims from thousands of workers, argued successfully that, when one included their time traveling from one client home to another within a single work day, they received total compensation that amounted to less than $5.15 per hour.

The employer in this case was Res-Care, Inc., and its subsidiary, Southern Home Care Services. The employer was in the business of providing in-home care and personal support services. Employees might help clients bathe, go to the bathroom, dress, groom themselves, and get around their home. They also might undertake some domestic chores like washing dishes and laundry. Employees often provided care to multiple clients during a single day, and they were not paid for traveling from one home to another.

New Legislative Session Brings Talk of a $15 Minimum Wage in Georgia

January 14, 2015 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

The Georgia legislature began its 2015-2016 regular session on January 12, and a controversial minimum wage bill could be up for debate in the house. House Bill 8, sponsored by Reps. Tyrone Brooks and Dewey McClain, seeks to increase the Georgia minimum wage to $15 an hour for most nonexempt employees.

The current Georgia minimum wage is $5.15 an hour, which is lower than the federal minimum wage of $7.25. Employers covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), a federal law, must pay the $7.25 wage. Most employers not subject to the FLSA — usually smaller entities with fewer employees — must pay the $5.15 Georgia wage. The smallest of employers may be exempt from all minimum wage laws.

The proposed legislation, if it is passed into law, also would broaden the number of employees exempted from Georgia’s minimum wage. Currently, domestic workers, farm workers, and employees who depend on tips are exempt from the law, meaning that they do not have to be paid the minimum wage. The proposed legislation would change that: Employers of domestic and farm workers would be obligated to pay the new minimum wage. For waiters and other employees who are paid gratuities the new legislation would allow tips to constitute up to 50 percent of their new $15 minimum wage.