Labor and Employment Law Commons^™

Working For (Virtually) Minimum Wage: Applying The Fair Labor Standards Act In Cyberspace, Miriam A. Cherry

All Faculty Scholarship

As more work enters cyberspace, takes place in virtual worlds, and collapses traditional nation-state barriers, we are entering a new era of “virtual work.” In this article, I use “virtual work” as an umbrella term to encompass work in virtual worlds, crowdsourcing, clickworking, even sweeping in, to some degree, the commonplace telecommuting and “mobile executives” that have become ubiquitous over the past decade.Are such new forms of “work” entitled to the minimum payment standards mandated under the FLSA? As the United States enters another economic crisis, and with advances in technology key to continued economic growth and stability, these questions …

The Fair Labor Standards Act Exemptions And The Pharmaceuticals Industry: Are Sales Representatives Entitled To Overtime?, Steven I. Locke

Barry Law Review

This article discusses the battle in the courts as to whether highly compensated pharmaceutical sales representatives are entitled to overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act, or whether they are excluded from such an entitlement under one or more of the Act’s “exemptions.” This article also conducts a review of the courts’ various conflicting positions and charts a course for addressing the issue before the Courts of Appeals and ultimately the Supreme Court.

Working For (Virtually) Minimum Wage: Applying The Fair Labor Standards Act In Cyberspace, Miriam A. Cherry

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

When Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA")' in 1938 to help relieve the downward spiral of wages in the Great Depression, America's workers commonly showed up to an employer's place of business, leaving little doubt if they were "working" and thus entitled to the statute's minimum wage. Times, and technologies, have changed. With modem computers, individuals often perform work on someone else's behalf while sitting at home, using not their employer's factory machinery, but rather a computer they purchased for themselves, as well as their own Internet connection. The work is often engaging and is far more …

Civil Rights And Related Decisions, Eileen Kaufman

Scholarly Works

This article analyzes two cases from the October 2006 Supreme Court Term, Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and Gonzales v. Carhart. The cases have much in common, even though Ledbetter concerns pay disparity claims based on gender and Gonzales concerns second trimester abortions. Both are five-four decisions which demonstrate how profoundly the appointment of Justice Samuel Alito to occupy Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's seat has affected the balance of power on the Court. The net result of this shift has been a devastating setback for women's rights. Both decisions prompted Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to uncharacteristically read aloud …

Data Note: The Relationship Between Supported Employment Status And Minimum Wage For Vocational Rehabilitation Integrated Employment Closures In 2004, Frank A. Smith, Dana Scott Gilmore

Data Note Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

Some VR customers earn less than minimum wage despite being closed successfully, i.e., exiting Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) services into an integrated employment setting. Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act allows employers to pay less than the minimum wage to a person whose disability impairs their capacity to be productive at a particular job. People in supported employment are more likely to have a disability that makes them eligible for Section 14(c) minimum wage exemption. How do wages for customers in supported employment compare to those earned by other customers?

Business, Labor And Law In The Global Economy: Resolution Of International Employment And Labor Disputes, William K. Slate Ii

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

No abstract provided.

Developing A Course On The Rights Of Low-Wage Workers, Shirley Lung

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Malignant Indifference: The Wages Of Contemporary Child Labor In The United States, Seymour Moskowitz

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Contract Rights And Civil Rights, Davison M. Douglas

Michigan Law Review

Have African Americans fared better under a scheme of freedom of contract or of government regulation of private employment relationships? Have court decisions striking down regulation of employment contracts on liberty of contract grounds aided black interests? Many contemporary observers, although with some notable dissenters, would respond that government regulation of freedom of contract, particularly the antidiscrimination provisions of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, has benefited African Americans because it has restrained discriminatory conduct by private employers. Professor David E. Bernstein challenges the view that abrogation of freedom of contract has consistently benefited African Americans by …

A Right Without Remedy: State Employees After Seminole Tribe And Alden, Heather Lueke

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

Over the past decade, courts have wrestled with state employees 'private legal remedy for a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. As a result of the decisions in Seminole Tribe v. Florida and Alden v. Maine, state employees lost their right to sue for such violations. This note examines the dilemma faced by employees who find themselves without a path of recourse against state employers. It concludes that both Seminole Tribe and Alden should be overturned because the decisions leave state employees with no realistic remedy

Are You Breaking Some Sort Of Law?: Protecting An Employee's Informal Complaints Under The Fair Labor Standards Act's Anti-Retaliation Provision, Jennifer Lynne Redmond

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Uniform Standard For Exemplary Damages In Employment Discrimination Cases, Judith J. Johnson

University of Richmond Law Review

The standards for exemplary damages in employment discrimination cases are in disarray. The major federal provisions that prohibit private employment discrimination, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ("Title VII"),2 42 U.S.C. § 1981 ("§ 1981"), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act ("ADEA"), and the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"), all have an indistinguishably worded standard for assessing exemplary damages: "reckless indifference to federally protected rights."

Engineering The Middle Classes: Class Line-Drawing In New Deal Hours Legislation, Deborah C. Malamud

Michigan Law Review

The likely readers of this Article work for a living, or are studying with the hope that they will work for a living very soon. Unlike many other workers in this society, they do not (and will not) get paid time-and-a-half for overtime. In this Article, I tell the story of how upper-level white-collar workers - people like the intended readers of this Article - came to be exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act's general overtime rules. My purpose in telling this story is not to participate in the debate on whether the so-called "white-collar exemptions" to the Fair …

On-Call Time Under The Fair Labor Standards Act, Eric Phillips

Michigan Law Review

Economic pressures, changing family structures, and technology have increasingly blurred the line between work time and personal time. The rise of independent contracting, the growing number of families in which both parents work, and the. expanding reach of computer networks, fax machines, pagers, and mobile telephones, to provide a few examples, have blurred the once-familiar distinction between work time and leisure time. This distinction is particularly unclear for on-call employees. An on-call employee is one who may be physically away from the workplace but who remains connected to it by telephone, beeper, computer, or radio, and who must respond to …

Overcoming Collective Action Problems: Enforcement Of Worker Rights, Louise Sadowsky Brock

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

In a period of new employment laws, it is important to determine how those laws are enforced, why enforcement of those laws is sometimes limited and how enforcement can be improved. This Note discusses the ways in which the theory of collective action limits enforcement of three employee rights statutes: the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. Enforcement mechanisms such as class action lawsuits, administrative agencies, employee participation groups, and labor unions represent potential methods of overcoming collective action problems. Each method has its benefits, and the three …

Handling Difficult Issues Under The Family Medical Leave Act, Helen Norton

Publications

No abstract provided.

Just When You Thought It Was Safe . . . Nannygate Ii: The Sequel, Martin J. Katz, Christopher Leh

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

The "Nannygate" scandal that erupted in the wake of Zoe Baird's failed attorney general nomination and Judge Stephen Breyer's aborted Supreme Court nomination has subsided. Most employers of domestic workers now realize they must comply with certain tax and immigration requirements. However, what they may not realize is that they might be violating the law concerning the most fundamental aspect of the employment relationship: how much they pay their domestic employees. Most people understand that nondomestic employees are subject to minimum wage, overtime and recordkeeping requirements of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"). What is not so obvious is …

Rethinking The Managerial-Professional Exemption Of The Fair Labor Standards Act, Peter D. Dechiara

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Equal Pay Acts: A Survey Of Experience Under The British And American Statutes, Robert N. Covington

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The United States Congress passed the Equal Pay Act in 1963 as an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act. Its British parallel, the Equal Pay Act 19702, took effect at the very end of 1975 and was much amended by the Sex Discrimination Act 1975. The five year delay between enactment and enforcement provided time for employers and labor unions to adjust to the new requirements. The drafters of the British statute were aware of the United States statute, and United States cases interpreting that act were relied on quite early in United Kingdom litigation. Now that the British …

Notice To Class Members Under The Fair Labor Standards Act Representative Action Provision, Thomas Ashby

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Federal courts currently apply different standards concerning the permissibility of notice. Although the Ninth Circuit forbids notice and the Seventh Circuit grants plaintiffs a right to send notice, the Second Circuit permits notice only in appropriate cases. This Note advocates that plaintiffs in FLSA and ADEA actions should be allowed to notify potential class members in appropriate cases. Part I analyzes inherent court powers, statutes, legislative history, and federal policies relating to notice. It concludes that enactment of FLSA and ADEA remedies did not alter the inherent power of federal courts to permit or prohibit notice. On the contrary, only …

Set-Offs Against Back Pay Awards Under The Federal Age Discrimination In Employment Act, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note proposes a theory to govern set-offs against ADEA damage awards that best effectuates congressional ~tent. It suggests that courts should set off those types of benefits received after a violation that, had they been lost because of a violation, would have been included in the damage award. Part I identifies the proper measure of damages under the ADEA as the net loss of 'job-related benefits," doubled in cases of willful violation. It explains first that job-related benefits should be broadly defined to include unemployment compensation and social security benefits as well as wages, and second that the congressional …

Federalism As A Fundamental Value: National League Of Cities In Perspective, Robert F. Nagel

Publications

No abstract provided.

Standards Of Willfulness Under The Fair Labor Standards Act, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The statutes of limitations facing plaintiffs who bring actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act [FLSA] vary, depending upon the willfulness of the violation. The Act establishes two limitations: three years for willful violations, and two years for nonwillful violations. It does not, however, define willfulness, and federal courts have interpreted the concept in two very different ways. Under the more prevalent rule, the test is: "Did the employer know the FLSA was in the picture?" But other courts have been more guarded, reserving the longer limitations period for "violations which are intentional, knowing or voluntary as distinguished from accidental." …

Note: The Right Of The Federal Government To Regulate State Employment Practices, Steven M. Swirsky

Fordham Urban Law Journal

The power of the federal government to regulate aspects of private employment (i.e., minimum wages, overtime pay, the right to unionize) has become a recognized aspect of the relationship between employers and employees. The Supreme Court has upheld such federal regulation as a valid exercise of congressional power to regulate interstate commerce. In the past decade, Congress has extended the coverage of labor statutes to workers in the public sector. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was enacted to foster the "maintenance of the minimum standards of living necessary for health, efficiency and general well-being of workers..." To achieve this …

National League Of Cities V. Usery: Its Implications For The Equal Pay Act And The Age Discrimination In Employment Act, Ellen B. Spellman

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

In National League of Cities v. Usery, the Supreme Court invalidated the application of the FLSA minimum wage and maximum hours provisions to certain essential state government activities as an unconstitutional intrusion on state sovereignty. This article will explore the implications of that decision with respect to the application of the EPA and the ADEA to state and local governments.

Part I contains a brief discussion of the Fair Labor Standards Act and Amendments. Part II discusses National League with reference to traditional commerce clause interpretation. Part III analyzes the difficulties of applying the decision, particularly the problem of …

Enterprise Coverage Under The Fair Labor Standards Act: An Assessment Of The First Generation, Mack A. Player

Vanderbilt Law Review

Some thirteen years have passed since Congress created the concept of "enterprise coverage," a concept unique to social legislation. With the appearance of two recent Supreme Court decisions'and the passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act Amendments of 1974 most of the crucial coverage issues arising under the Fair Labor Standards Act have now been resolved. It is appropriate therefore to review the coverage provisions of this unique and complicated statute, with particular emphasis upon the aspects of "enterprise coverage."

Equal Pay: The Hospital-Nursing Home Dilemma

University of Richmond Law Review

The Equal Pay Act of 19631 (EPA) is not an independent piece of legis- lation, but rather an amendment to existing legislation. The EPA simply adds an additional fair labor standard to the already familiar Fair Labor Standards Act of 19382 (FLSA) [hereinafter alternately referred to as "the Act"]. By utilizing the process of amendment, Congress hoped to avoid the creation of a new bureaucratic structure to enforce the new law,8 and hoped to facilitate compliance because both industry and labor were already aware of the operation and provisions of the FLSA.4 However, what appeared to be a simple matter …

Labor Law - Overtime Wages - Interstate Motor Carriers Can Be Obligated To Pay Overtime Wages In Accordance With The District Of Columbia Minimum Wage Law, Frank H. Griffin Iii

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Federal Restrictions Of Wage Garnishment: Title Iii Of The Consumer Protection Act, David L. Cocanower

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Foreword, James R. Beaird

Georgia Law Review

This symposium issue brings together a collection of papers notable for diversity of subject matter as well as for point of view. Yet all relate to what is generally referred to as our National Labor Policy. A quick glance through this issue will remind the reader of the many faceted nature of this policy. A more careful study will make clear that its content, whether expressed by Congress, an administrator or an administrative board, is simply the balance that evolves from the continuing effort to blend national purpose with economic change.

In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act' became a …