Wage and Hour Law under the FLSA: A Comprehensive Guide

141 questions on wage and hour law under the FLSA, answered and cited by the UpLaw editorial team.

• Are FLSA attorney's fees subject to a proportionality requirement?
• Are FLSA exemptions still construed narrowly?
• Are nurses and paralegals learned professionals?
• Can a highly paid manual worker be exempt as an HCE?
• Can a manager participate in a tip pool?
• Can an employee waive FLSA rights by agreement?
• Can an employer and employee agree to a lower overtime rate?
• Can an employer deduct the cost of uniforms and tools from wages?
• Can an individual manager be personally liable for FLSA violations?
• Can a private employer give comp time instead of overtime pay?
• Can out-of-state plaintiffs join an FLSA collective?
• Can public employers require employees to use accrued comp time?
• Can the parties agree on what the regular rate is?
• Can two companies be liable for the same employee's overtime?
• Can you give examples of the production/administrative line?
• Can you price the exposure from one misclassification decision?
• Can you work the arithmetic on a nondiscretionary bonus recomputation?
• Did Busk reject the "required by the employer" test?
• Do all states allow a tip credit?
• Does a signed independent contractor agreement establish contractor status?
• Does a stipulated dismissal end an FLSA case without court approval?
• Does California follow Busk on security screenings?
• Does paid leave count toward the forty-hour overtime trigger?
• Does the FLSA preempt state wage law?
• Does the FLSA require bad faith or intent?
• Does the FLSA require meal or rest breaks?
• Do states set their own exempt salary thresholds?
• How are damages measured for a misclassified salaried employee?
• How did Epic Systems change wage and hour defense?
• How do dual jobs affect the tip credit?
• How do employers lose the fluctuating workweek method?
• How does a CBA affect clothes-changing time?
• How does a nondiscretionary quarterly bonus affect past overtime?
• How does a Section 216(b) collective differ from a Rule 23 class action?
• How does FLSA retaliation differ from the wage provisions?
• How does Section 207(e) define the regular rate?
• How does the agricultural exemption work?
• How does the concurrent-duties rule work?
• How does the highly compensated employee exemption work?
• How does the salary-comparison factor cut against an employer?
• How does the Section 260 good-faith defense work?
• How do willfulness and good faith interact?
• How has the circuit split on collective certification changed the landscape?
• How much weight does DOL's classification rule carry?
• How should a company that uses staffing agencies protect itself?
• How should an employer fix a day-rate exemption problem?
• Is an arbitration program a free win for employers?
• Is a night-shift differential excluded from the regular rate?
• Is an inside sales rep working from home an outside salesperson?
• Is there daily overtime under federal law?
• Is time spent in a post-shift security screening compensable?
• Is unauthorized work still compensable?
• Is "under ten minutes" automatically de minimis?
• What are the Bonnette joint-employment factors?
• What are the eight exclusions from the regular rate?
• What are the elements of the outside sales exemption?
• What are the FLSA's child labor rules?
• What are the four elements of the executive exemption?
• What are the six economic-reality factors?
• What are the three elements of the administrative exemption?
• What are the two defensive moves against Mt. Clemens risk?
• What counts as "management" for the executive exemption?
• What deductions from an exempt employee's salary are permitted?
• What did Helix Energy v. Hewitt decide?
• What did the 2013 Home Care Rule change?
• What does a prevailing FLSA plaintiff recover?
• What does "discretion and independent judgment as to matters of significance" require?
• What does "employ" mean under the FLSA?
• What does "matters of significance" actually mean?
• What does Section 207(a)(1) require?
• What does Section 254(a) exclude from compensable time?
• What does Section 541.604(b) require for day-rate workers?
• What does the Motor Carrier Act exemption cover?
• What do the Zheng factors add?
• What eleven questions should a wage and hour audit ask?
• What factors determine whether on-call time is compensable?
• What four elements does the Motor Carrier Act exemption require?
• What government enforcement tools exist under the FLSA?
• What happens if an employer has a practice of improper deductions?
• What is a hybrid wage and hour action?
• What is FLSA enterprise coverage?
• What is individual FLSA coverage?
• What is the ABC test, and is it the federal standard?
• What is the administrative-exemption trap, stated plainly?
• What is the continuous workday rule?
• What is the core lesson of a systemic wage and hour failure?
• What is the creative professional exemption?
• What is the de minimis doctrine and what are its limits?
• What is the difference between "engaged to wait" and "waiting to be engaged"?
• What is the federal minimum wage and how is it measured?
• What is the fluctuating workweek method?
• What is the history of the federal exempt salary threshold?
• What is the "integral and indispensable" test?
• What is the learned professional exemption?
• What is the Mt. Clemens burden-shifting rule?
• What is the penalty for an FLSA recordkeeping failure?
• What is the "primary duty" standard?
• What is the production/administrative dichotomy?
• What is the salary-basis test?
• What is the seasonal amusement or recreational establishment exemption?
• What is the Section 207(i) retail or service establishment exemption?
• What is the Section 207(k) public-safety partial exemption?
• What is the Section 541.603(d) safe harbor?
• What is the signature shape of an FLSA case?
• What is the small-vehicle exception to the Motor Carrier Act exemption?
• What is unique about the computer employee exemption?
• What is wrong with an automatic meal deduction?
• What makes an FLSA violation willful?
• What meal and rest break rules do states impose?
• What notice must an employer give before taking a tip credit?
• What payments must be included in the regular rate?
• What records must an FLSA employer keep, and for how long?
• What tip pools are permitted?
• What was the dissent's argument in Helix, and why does it still matter?
• What was the traditional two-step collective certification process?
• When does a franchisor risk joint-employer status?
• When is a bonus truly discretionary?
• When is a meal period unpaid?
• When is time rounding lawful?
• When is travel time compensable?
• Where does state wage law most exceed the FLSA?
• Which employers are covered regardless of the $500,000 threshold?
• Which industries does the Helix problem affect?
• Which professionals are exempt from the salary tests entirely?
• Which regular-rate exclusions are also creditable against overtime owed?
• Who bears the burden of proving an FLSA exemption?
• Who is a "tipped employee" and what is the tip credit?
• Who is NOT covered by the computer employee exemption?
• Why are FLSA liquidated damages not a penalty?
• Why are misclassification cases so lopsided?
• Why are pharmaceutical sales reps outside salesmen?
• Why did Congress pass the Portal-to-Portal Act?
• Why does a pure day rate fail the salary-basis test?
• Why doesn't the common-law agency test apply to FLSA classification?
• Why does the weekend travel rule catch everyone?
• Why is child labor different from other FLSA violations?
• Why is misclassification the most expensive mistake an employer can make?
• Why is the assistant-manager case the most litigated fact pattern in wage and hour law?
• Why is the regular rate the quiet killer in FLSA cases?
• Why is the workweek the fundamental unit of FLSA analysis?
• Why is wage and hour the highest-volume employment risk in America?