FLSA Exemptions: Emerging Class Action Threat
Navigating the Complexities of Executive, Professional and Administrative Exemptions
Wage and hour suits continue to lead all class action filings
Recording of a 90-minute CLE webinar with Q&A
This seminar will provide a comprehensive analysis of class action litigation regarding FLSA exemptions and the most frequently litigated classifications. The panel will outline best practices for counsel to avoid misclassification and employment practices that can jeopardize the exemption.
Outline
- Litigation trends regarding misclassification of exemptions
- Executive
- Management of enterprise, department or subdivision
- Authority to hire and fire
- Professional
- Administrative
- Production work distinction
- Salary basis—effect of commission payments
- Discretion and independent judgment v. skill and experience
- Executive
- At risk positions and industries
- Financial services
- Insurance
- Retail
- Restaurant
- Other services
- Maintaining the exemption
- Furloughs
- Docking time for absences
- Deductions from wages
Benefits
The panel will review these and other key questions:
- How have courts interpreted the "discretion" and "independent judgment" factors of the administrative exemption?
- Why is the financial services industry a target for wage and hour class action lawsuits, and what are the most common challenges to exemptions in this industry?
- How can an employer reduce exempt employee's salaries in response to economic hardship without running afoul of the "salary basis" test?
Faculty

Mark E. Tabakman
Partner
Fox Rothschild
Mr. Tabakman handles union and non-union matters for employers nationwide and concentrates in wage-hour law. He... | Read More
Mr. Tabakman handles union and non-union matters for employers nationwide and concentrates in wage-hour law. He has represented more than 200 clients before the U.S. and state Departments of Labor on misclassification (exemptions), working time, and child labor. He authors a blog that provides the latest information and observations on new developments in wage-hour law.
CloseDouglas Weiner
Senior Trial Counsel
Epstein Becker & Green
He has 30 years of federal wage and hour litigation experience. Prior to joining the firm, he was Senior Trial Attorney... | Read More
He has 30 years of federal wage and hour litigation experience. Prior to joining the firm, he was Senior Trial Attorney for the New York Regional Solicitor's Office of the U.S. DOL, where he was lead prosecutor on the Northeast Region's most significant and difficult wage and hour and whistleblower retaliation cases, including those pursuant to Sarbanes-Oxley, OSHA and the Fair Labor Standards Act.
CloseAngelo Spinola
Shareholder
Littler Mendelson
He regularly represents employers nationwide in collective, class, and hybrid actions under the Fair Labor Standards... | Read More
He regularly represents employers nationwide in collective, class, and hybrid actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act and various state wage and hour laws. He also assists employers in responding to wage and hour investigations by the Department of Labor and state agency equivalents, conducts wage and hour practices audits, and develops compliance measures that minimize wage hour exposure.
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