Compensable Time Traps for Employers Under the FLSA: Determining Integral and Indispensable Activities
Record $22+ Million Verdict Under FLSA, Jurisdiction and Fact Specific Considerations, Best Practices to Mitigate Risk
Recording of a 90-minute CLE video webinar with Q&A
This CLE webinar will guide practitioners through common compensable time traps for employers under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The panel will review notable recent case law and DOL enforcement actions demonstrating the considerations and pitfalls for employers when trying to determine what activities are compensable and the costly penalties that may result from noncompliance. The panel will also discuss state law considerations of which practitioners should be aware and provide best practices to mitigate risk.
Outline
- Overview of FLSA and compensable time
- Record-setting jury award in Su v. East Penn Manufacturing Co. Inc. (E.D. Pa. 2023)
- Why FLSA claims are so costly to employers?
- Liquidated damages
- Attorneys' fees
- Willful violations
- Portal-to-Portal Act: activities that are preliminary to or postliminary to principal activities vs. activities that are integral and indispensable to productive work
- FLSA compensable time traps as demonstrated in recent case law and DOL enforcement activity
- Donning and doffing uniforms/gear and similar activities
- Su v. East Penn Manufacturing Co. Inc. (E.D. Pa. 2023)
- Tyger v. Precision Drilling Corp. (3d Cir. 2023)
- Traveling
- Breaks/meal periods
- Expressing breast milk
- On-call/waiting time
- Sleeping time
- Training
- Work from home considerations
- Donning and doffing uniforms/gear and similar activities
- State law considerations
- Best practices to mitigate risk
Benefits
The panel will review these and other key issues:
- What are the most common FLSA compensable time traps of which counsel and their clients should be aware?
- What federal and state considerations should counsel and clients be aware of when developing policies and procedures?
- Why are FLSA violations so costly to employers?
- How should counsel best advise their clients to mitigate the risks of a DOL investigation and costly penalties?
Faculty
Natalie F. Bare
Special Counsel
Duane Morris
Ms. Bare is a class action and employment law litigator. She focuses her practice on defending companies in... | Read More
Ms. Bare is a class action and employment law litigator. She focuses her practice on defending companies in complex wage and hour litigation and other high-stakes class action cases. Ms. Bare has trial, arbitration, and appellate experience. Her litigation experience includes defeating certification, prevailing on dispositive motions, and successfully resolving complex litigation through mediation and other proceedings. Areas of practice include wage and hour class and collective action litigation, preventive employment law counseling and training, employee handbook and policy development, and employee agreement and contract development. Ms. Bare is a frequent author and speaker on employment law topics.
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Noah A. Finkel
Partner, Co-Chair National Wage and Hour Litigation Practice Group
Seyfarth Shaw
Mr. Finkel’s principal area of concentration lies in wage-and-hour matters, in which he has represented companies... | Read More
Mr. Finkel’s principal area of concentration lies in wage-and-hour matters, in which he has represented companies in nearly 200 actual or putative collective and/or class action matters under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and/or state wage-and-hour laws. He also regularly advises companies on compliance with the FLSA and state wage-and-hour laws, including the performance of exempt status reviews and pay practice audits. Mr. Finkel co-chairs the national Wage and Hour Litigation practice group and is one of three editors-in-chief of the treatise Wage & Hour Collective and Class Litigation, a more than 1000-page book devoted to the litigation of wage & hour matters. The treatise literally is “the book” on wage and hour litigation. Noah was lead counsel for Epic Systems in the district and appellate courts, and co-counsel at the U.S. Supreme Court, in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, which established that employers lawfully may require employees to enter into an arbitration agreement containing a waiver of the ability to participate in a class or collective action against their employer. When not litigating or counseling on wage-hour matters, Mr. Finkel manages labor and employment matters for several companies. In that capacity, he acts as a trusted advisor in counseling companies in several labor and employment areas, defends them in high-value cases, and manages their routine litigation.
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Ryan T. Warden
Partner
White and Williams
Mr. Warden has extensive experience defending claims alleging discrimination, retaliation, and harassment. His practice... | Read More
Mr. Warden has extensive experience defending claims alleging discrimination, retaliation, and harassment. His practice focuses on the defense of employers against wage and hour, wage payment, and prevailing wage claims, including those asserted in class and/or collective actions. Mr. Warden’s experience includes representing employers across a wide array of industries, ranging from small, family-owned businesses to Fortune 500 companies. He has represented employers in connection with countless compliance investigations by state and federal departments of labor. Mr. Warden offers clients his robust knowledge of wage laws and the agencies administering them, guiding his clients through the process. In addition to his litigation and government investigations practices, Mr. Warden frequently works with clients on employment law issues and partners with clients in the development of compliant policies and procedures, including arbitration agreements.
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