COVID-19 isn't the only obstacle to the long-term survival of our favorite local restaurants, pizza shops, and dive bars. Massachusetts' wage and hour laws are incredibly protective of employees who rely on gratuities, including servers, bartenders, and the drivers who deliver your take-out. And with automatic triple damages attached to most wage violations in the state, mistakes can be incredibly costly if not outright ruinous. So, for employers running businesses with tipped employees on staff, the following refresher may come in handy.

Before the COVID-19 crisis, employees could pop into the office supply closet for the ream of paper they needed to print that 50-page report or a box of staples or pens to refill their dwindling stash. Now, they may be buying office supplies as they work from home. To ensure costs don’t spiral out of control and to reduce the risk of potential wage and hour claims, employers should develop or fine-tune their remote work purchasing and reimbursement policies.

One of President Joe Biden’s latest executive orders calls for the federal government to begin planning how to move toward instituting a $15-an-hour minimum wage for federal employees and private-sector workers that work on federal contracts. Such a move is in line with recent calls from the labor movement for a nationwide federal $15 minimum wage.

One of President Joe Biden’s latest executive orders calls for the federal government to begin planning how to move toward instituting a $15-an-hour minimum wage for federal employees and private-sector workers that work on federal contracts. Such a move is in line with recent calls from the labor movement for a nationwide federal $15 minimum wage.

The massive appropriations and COVID-19 relief legislation that President Donald Trump signed December 27, 2020, includes provisions that extend various supplemental employment benefits until March or April, depending on the program.

The announcement of a new final rule addressing when workers can legally be classified as independent contractors emphasizes the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) intent to bring clarity to the issue, but with a change in administration near, the future of the rule is up in the air.

The U.S. Department of Labor‘s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD) recently issued two opinion letters addressing when travel time and training time are considered compensable hours worked under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Like all opinion letters, the new guidance was based exclusively on the facts of specific cases. Nevertheless, they provide helpful directives on two often-overlooked areas of compensable time.