In Pennsylvania and elsewhere in the U.S., waiters and waitresses get most of their pay through tips given by patrons. However, the restaurant industry has faced an increasing number of lawsuits due to the 80/20 rule, which states that side work cannot occupy more...
employee rights
DOL reverts to pre-Obama era view of independent contractors
Pennsylvania workers who are unclear of their should note that the federal Department of Labor under the Trump administration has rescinded interpretations published during the Obama years. These statements of guidance were meant to steer legal rulings on whether a...
U.S. Supreme Court to rule on pension plan case
Pennsylvania employees may be interested to learn that a case involving church-affiliated health care institutions and pension plans was being heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. The case involved whether or not church-affiliated pension plans that were not established...
FLSA and emotional distress claims
Losing a job or suffering retaliation at the workplace can result in severe emotional distress for Pennsylvania employees and their families. A 2017 appeals court ruling may now allow certain workers to sue for related damages under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The...
Stopping deliberate job misclassification
Pennsylvania workers should be aware of being misclassified by their employers. This is a prevalent and harmful act that is done deliberately by employers so that they can reduce costs and shift responsibility. The United States Department of Labor has obtained two...
Retaliation against employees can be illegal
Pennsylvania workers who believe that their employers have violated their rights sometimes file complaints. When they do, some employers retaliate against them and fire, demote or punish them in another way. Retaliation against employees for asserting their rights is...
Overtime law changes slated to become effective
Some white collar employees in Pennsylvania may be celebrating the fact that an important Department of Labor overtime change is ready to go into effect. Salaried workers earning at least $23,660 per year were previously considered exempt from being entitled to...
Litigation financing could help workers in wage disputes
Litigation finance is a practice in which investors fund a lawsuit. If the case is successful, the investors are entitled to receive a certain amount of the award. If the defendants or plaintiffs lose their cases, they do not repay the funding. According to some legal...
EEOC guidance may help Pennsylvania workers
In 1998, 24 percent of claims handled by the EEOC were related to workplace retaliation. In 2015, that grew to 45 percent, which made it the most common type of complaint brought to the EEOC. Retaliation is defined as an employer taking a materially adverse action...
Understanding the basics of the FLSA
The Fair Labor Standards Act requires employers to pay non-exempt workers at least the federal hourly minimum wage for their time worked in a workweek. Additionally, they must pay overtime when employees work more than 40 hours. To keep track of all hours employees...

