NewsOn Thursday, June 2, 2016, the Ninth Circuit issued a long-awaited decision in a case called Flores v. City of San Gabriel, which involved a group of police officers who sued their City employer for three years of unpaid overtime and liquidated damages under the Fair Labor Standards Act.  The primary issue on appeal

hourglass-small.jpgPublic agencies are subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), a federal law that regulates payment of wages.  Under FLSA certain employees are “exempt,” meaning they are not entitled to be paid overtime.  Navigating the FLSA exemptions can be a tricky task, but compliance is critical for employers to prevent liability.  Failure to classify

hourglass-small copy.jpgIf you think your agency has classified exempt employees correctly, you may want to take a second look.  Last month, we reported on the Department of Labor (“DOL”) audit that resulted in an award of $544,715 in back wages against the San Francisco Giants.  Part of that award was because the Giants classified employees as

hourglass-small.jpgWhat is the Section 7(k) Exemption?

Unless an overtime exemption applies, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires employers to pay their employees overtime compensation for any work performed in excess of 40 hours in a workweek, defined as seven consecutive days.  While the white collar overtime exemptions (administrative, executive and professional) set forth in

Interns.jpgIn February we reported on the growing number of lawsuits brought by unpaid interns against companies they worked with for failure to pay regular and overtime wages.  The unpaid interns claim that these businesses treated them like employees.  Consequently, the interns argue they should have been paid like employees as required by the federal Fair

hourglass-small.jpgA California Court of Appeal decision recently went against existing authority interpreting the FLSA and found an employer’s change to employees’ FLSA workweeks with the purpose of limiting the employer’s overtime obligations to “evade” the overtime requirements of the FLSA.  The decision has come under sharp criticism from a federal court.

Under the FLSA, an