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On August 1, 2023, MSE, along with New Mexico law firm Youtz & Valdez PC, filed a lawsuit on behalf of Justin Fowler and other similarly situated individuals who work as budtenders at dispensaries owned and operated by Medicine Man Technologies, Inc. d/b/a/ Schwazze (“Schwazze”), including locations operating under the R.Greenleaf brand name.

On July 27, 2023, a three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit unanimously upheld a district court ruling that sales representatives working for a food-products distributor were not exempt from the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). The district court rejected the defendants’ argument that the FLSA’s “outside sales” exemption applied to the plaintiffs because it concluded that the defendant failed to show that the plaintiffs’ primary duty was to make sales.

Last Monday, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Gentry v. Hamilton-Ryker IT Solutions, LLC, upheld a lower court’s ruling that two engineers making between $200,000 and $300,000 per year were entitled to overtime pay because they were not compensated on a “salary basis.”

Papa John’s delivery drivers have asked a federal judge to approve a $20 million settlement for a wage violation suit. The case is Durling, et al, v. Papa John’s International, and if approved, the settlement could become the largest settlement for pizza delivery drivers in recent similar cases.

Unfortunately, employers routinely violate the rules governing the pay of employees who earn tips, resulting in tipped workers being paid below the amount to which they are entitled under the law. Tips are the property of employees and cannot be shared with supervisors or managers, nor can they be taken by the employer to cover its expenses.

Workers deserve to have their savings protected from unnecessary fees, poor investment options, and slick enticements to invest in bad choices. And they are protected! If you believe your 401(k) or other retirement plan is shortchanging you, please contact us at MSE at [email protected].

Inova Home Health, LLC (IHH), which is in part owned and operated by Alternate Solutions Health Network, LLC (ASHN), provides home care services. At issue in this lawsuit are a group of its employees called Post-acute Care Coordinators (PACCs).According to the EEOC, IHH and ASHN paid female PACCs less than their male counterparts, in violation of the Equal Pay Act of 1963, which prohibits pay discrimination based on sex.

Employees who make or rely on tips face unique wage issues in the workplace.
Under federal law and most state laws, employers may pay tipped employees less than the hourly minimum wage, as long as the employees receive enough in tips to make up the difference. This is called a “tip credit” or tipped minimum wage.

Just months before a jury trial was set to begin, Home Depot agreed to pay $72.5 million to settle a class action lawsuit originally filed in 2016. In the lawsuit, the lead plaintiff alleged that Home Depot failed to pay him and other hourly, non-exempt workers in California for work performed off the clock including after the store was closed to customers, failed to pay for all on the clock work because of Home Depot’s time rounding policy, and failed to provide accurate wage statements.

New York based flight attendants sued American Airlines, alleging wage and hour violations under New York labor laws. Plaintiffs allege that American failed to pay their wages within the mandated time under New York law. They further allege that American failed to provide wage statements that accurately reflected their hours worked in each pay period.