There’s hope for stopping some of the regulations that the Obama administration began dropping in its last months before heading out the door, including the arguably worst of all, overtime for mid-level workers, now blocked by a federal judge in Texas [Kathy Hoekstra/Watchdog, McClatchy, Brittany Hunter/FEE; Virginia Postrel (“Not every workplace is, or aspires to be, the civil service. Not every worker longs to be on an assembly line.”)]
Posts Tagged ‘wage and hour suits’
Workplace roundup
- Following election results, lawprofs’ idea of persuading SCOTUS to kill state right-to-work laws is looking kinda dead [James Sherk, National Review] Sixth Circuit panel, reversing decision below, says law authorizes Kentucky counties to enact county-wide right-to-work statutes [Lexington Herald-Leader]
- “Congressional Budget Office: Canceling overtime rule would boost family earnings” [Sean Higgins, Washington Examiner]
- “Another Lesson from Bastiat: So-Called Employment Protection Legislation Is Bad News for Workers” [Daniel Mitchell, Cato citing NBER working paper by Gilbert Cette, Jimmy Lopez, and Jacques Mairesse]
- Claim: lawmakers can “give” private employees paid parental leave and “there’s no added cost to employers” [Kate Ryan, WTOP citing views of Montgomery County, Maryland council member Tom Hucker]
- All California janitors must now take training against sexual harassment, on rationale of preventing rape [L.A. Times]
- A “complicated, highly regulated industry”: “Why Are Companies Abandoning On-Site Day Care?” [Rebecca Greenfield, Bloomberg] And: “Childcare costs skyrocket after minimum wage hike passes” [Alyssa Donovan, KXLY; Spokane, Wash.]
“How to Tell Your Salaried Employees They Are Now Hourly”
With the new federal regulations set to kick in December 1, this oft-unwelcome news will reach many employees just too late for them to take out any resulting upset on the politicians who encouraged or permitted it to happen [Evil HR Lady, earlier]
Suit: college football players employees under California law
A class action suit against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) cites California law, as well as the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, to argue that college football players should be deemed employees subject to minimum wage and overtime law. I find it a stretch for reasons quoted in the report [Robert Teachout, SHRM]
Wage and hour roundup
- “Study: Minimum Wage Cost Germany 60,000 Jobs” [Axel Schrinner, Handelsblatt]
- Even they can’t comply: federal Department of Labor settles overtime claims with its own employees [J. William Manuel, Bradley Arant]
- “50 Business Groups Sue Feds Over Upcoming Overtime Rule” [Connor Wolf, Inside Sources, related, Daniel Fisher on suit by 21 states] “With all these efforts to block it, can employers relax?” [Robin Shea]
- Translation: it’s time to throw many more disabled persons into involuntary unemployment [proposal to end sub-minimum wage exemption in disabled work centers, earlier here and here]
- Dems’ $15-and-index platform plank would set a “policy written for the nation’s very wealthiest enclaves, but incoherent for economically distressed regions.” [IBD]
- Efforts to measure early impacts of Seattle minimum wage hike [Charles Hughes/Cato, Tim Worstall, Sean Higgins/Washington Examiner]
Wage and hour roundup
- Refuting wage czar David Weil: “Employer Concerns About The New Overtime Exemption Rules Aren’t A Myth” [Bill Pokorny, Wage and Hour Insights] Federalist Society podcast on overtime rules with Tammy McCutchen and Elizabeth Dorminey;
- “The Customer Service Downside to the New Federal Overtime Rules” [Coyote] The “mass reclassification that will have to take effect by December 1 has the makings for an employee morale nightmare.” [Robin Shea, Employment and Labor Insider]
- “A $15 minimum wage will crush the retail industry” [Nicole Gelinas] “$15 minimum wage shutters old-school Brooklyn diner” [New York Post] “Minimum-wage increase sinks Roseville bookstore, owner says” [Sacramento Bee]
- Service sector even more susceptible to automation than manufacturing [McKinsey vs. Arnold Kling]
- Employers such as nonprofits that can call on the services of volunteers should not expect that to rescue them from new overtime mandate [Daniel Schwartz]
- “A worker-scheduling bill would be bad for business in D.C.” [Washington Post editorial; see also Seattle, February]
“Viking Ship Sailing the Great Lakes Is Getting Conquered by U.S. Regulations”
“After making stops at Canadian ports, the Draken’s crew was told by Coast Guard officials last week that if [the meticulously restored Norwegian Viking craft] wanted to sail through the Great Lakes, it had to hire a certified pilot, paid at an hourly rate that would amount to about $400,000 by the trip’s end. If unable to pay, the vessel would be forced to turn back.” The Coast Guard mandates what must be paid to pilots on the Great Lakes and recently raised its target compensation “to about $326,000 a year…unlike in Canada, the American regulations offer no exemption based on tonnage or size.” [Mike McPhate, New York Times]
Bad things keep happening to him
“Bronx ‘professional plaintiff’ has worked for 11 companies since 2007 and has sued every single one” [New York Post] “Maor’s [wage-and-hour] suits have all been filed as class actions in which he sought damages on behalf of himself and up to 450-plus co-workers at a time.”
“I think the best thing to do is stay small and not hire anybody”
How the surge of new labor legislation and regulation is affecting some New England farmers [Mary Pols, Portland Press Herald via Ira Stoll, Future of Capitalism]
Wage and hour roundup
- “President Obama says there is ‘no solid evidence’ [that higher minimum wages kill jobs]. Yes there is — lots of it.” [Tyler Cowen channeling David Neumark etc.] “The minimum wage arose in the early 20th century as a Progressive policy designed to [harm] low-wage workers,” and it worked [Deirdre McCloskey]
- “The car wash industry: a case study of how the $15 minimum wage will destroy immigrant jobs” [Jim Epstein, Reason] “Weak Enforcement Will Blunt the Impact of New York’s $15 Minimum Wage” [same] District of Columbia jumps with its own $15 law [Charles Hughes, Cato]
- Ugly Betty, stranded in Queens? New overtime edict could cut off entry-level jobs in fields like fashion journalism [New York Times] New overtime regs draw fire from one left-leaning group whose own paid canvassing operations are affected, PIRG (Public Interest Research Group);
- New York attorney general, in legal action, seeks to hold Domino’s liable for franchisees’ alleged wage underpayment [Reuters]
- Millions of workers had better get used to time sheets or corresponding apps from now on [Bill Pokorny, SHRM via Steve Miller on Twitter] Travel time will make an added complication [Daniel Schwartz] A “‘deer-in-the-headlights moment’ for small businesses” [Akin Oyedele, Business Insider]
- Will Republicans in Congress block the overtime rule? [Connor Wolf, Daily Caller] Or will Congress take the less principled step of merely exempting itself? [Veronique de Rugy, earlier]