Many employers often have good reason to oppose the receipt of unemployment compensation benefits by discharged employees. In West Virginia, a person may be disqualified from receiving unemployment compensation benefits if their employment was terminated on basis of misconduct or gross misconduct. Sometimes disputes arise as to whether the employee was fired or resigned. Aside from ... Read more
Recently, the White House announced new proposed rules for in-home care service workers. Under the proposal, service workers who provide assistance to the elderly and the infirm will be afforded minimum wage and overtime pay protections under the Fair Labor Standards Act. According to the Obama Administration, the FLSA was meant to exempt casual babysitters and ... Read more
The United States Supreme Court’s decision earlier this month in Staub v. Proctor has necessitated a discussion of the so-called cat’s paw theory of unlawful discrimination. As the theory goes, if a supervisor with discriminatory intent sets into motion an adverse employment action (like a discharge) and the supervisor’s conduct is the proximate cause of ... Read more
As reported in the State Journal, labor interests in West Virginia are once again pursuing legislation that is burdensome and unnecessary rather than seeking to promote jobs. Having passed out of the House Energy, Industry and Labor, Economic Development and Small Business Committee, House Bill 2770 – the “Flexible Leave Act” — is now pending before the House ... Read more
One of the most unique (and to some, frustrating) aspects of West Virginia employment law is the requirement that employees be paid all wages to which they are entitled within 72 hours of discharge from employment. The West Virginia Wage Payment and Collection Act (the “Wage Act”) has for many years both caught unsuspecting employers off ... Read more
Political discussion should be reignited over last week’s announcement that President Obama is nominating Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board for a term to extend until 2014. Becker’s nomination failed last year as a result of the extraordinary and unanimous expressions of concern by the business community. Becker, formerly of the Service Employees International Union ... Read more
For the past several years, the trend toward high-dollar class actions brought as a result of misclassification and other errors under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) is unmistakable. Seldom does a week go by without a court ruling or settlement announcement in a case in which thousands of employees claim that they were not ... Read more
When an employer misclassifies an employee as exempt from the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), how should the employee’s back pay be calculated? Should the employer divide the salary by 40 hours and pay one and a half times the regular rate for every hour worked over 40 in a workweek? ... Read more
As reported by this blog here, last March the Wage and Hour Division of the United States Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued a blanket declaration that employees performing the “typical duties of a mortgage loan officer” do not qualify for the administrative exemption from the minimum wage and overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act ... Read more