Compensation: Joan Rivers Labor Law Dispute: ‘Fashion Police’ Writers File Suit For Back Wages

By Chris Greenhough

A Joan Rivers labor law dispute kicked off this week, with writers for Rivers’ E! show, Fashion Police, filing a $1.1 million labor lawsuit to demand back wages they say haven’t been paid.

The lawsuit has been brought by 12 writers from the show. The group claims they were not paid wages at an agreed upon rate and that overtime laws were violated. The writers are seeking an additional $400,000 in damages.
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FLSA Exemptions: Fourth Circuit Approves “Exempt” Classification of CEO’s Secretary

By Robert A. Sar and Margaret S. Scholz

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that the Fair Labor Standards Act’s administrative employee exemption properly applied to a Chief Executive Officer’s (CEO) secretary. Altemus v. Fed. Realty Inv. Trust, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 15917 (4^th Cir. July 31, 2012). … Continue Reading

New CA Overtime Law Codifies “No Explicit Mutual Wage Agreements”

By Mary Wright, Editor

Recently, the California Advice Group received the following question from a human resources manager concerning salaried non-exempt employees.  As the law is changing in this area, it is a very timely question. … Continue Reading

Holiday Pay in California

Starting around Halloween, the calls start rolling in from employees asking whether they will be paid “holiday pay” if they don’t work the day before or after an office holiday, how holiday pay is calculated, and whether it counts toward overtime for the week in which the holiday falls.  This advice is from the California Department of Industrial Relations.

Your state probably has a similar website for wage issues.  Check it before answering questions or cutting checks around the holidays — Mary Wright, Editor

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Overtime — Suits for Unpaid Overtime Increase by 32%

By Paul Davidson, USA Today

Americans were pushed to their limit in the recession and its aftermath as they worked longer hours, often for the same or less pay, after businesses laid off almost 9 million employees.  The spread of smartphones has tied more workers to their jobs during off hours.  Now, many are striking back in court. Since the height of the recession in 2008, more workers across the nation have been suing employers under federal and state wage-and-hour laws. The number of lawsuits filed last year was up 32% vs. 2008, an increase that some experts partly attribute to a post-downturn austerity that pervaded the American workplace and artificially inflated U.S. productivity.

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