The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) generally requires that employers pay employees at least $7.25 per hour. One of the few exceptions to the rule is “tipped employees” – including waiters, bartenders, and other employees who regularly receive gratuities for performing their jobs. The FLSA allows employers to subsidize the minimum wage paid to the tipped employees with gratuities…
Cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin and ethereum, are intended to serve as a type of digital money that consumers can use in everyday commercial transactions. They may be traded on online exchanges for conventional currencies, including the U.S. dollar, or be used to purchase goods or services, usually online. But with one bitcoin recently trading at around $15,000, an increase of…
You may remember that about a year a half ago, the Department of Labor, under President Obama, issued a rule that was going change what’s called the “salary level” for “white collar” workers. The salary level is part of the federal overtime rules. Those rules basically say: if you’re a white collar worker and you make less than the salary level you…
New York City workers and employee advocates cheered as the city last week passed legislation designed to protect some of its most vulnerable workers. After being approved by the City Council on May 24, Mayor Bill de Blasio signed the Fair Work Week legislative package into law on May 30, 2017, stating that “thousands of people are going to gain…
On May 15, 2017, the Freelance Isn’t Free Act went into effect in New York City, providing freelance workers with a statutory basis to recover in court for late or unpaid wages, retaliation, or other violations of the Act. Subject to a few exceptions, the Act applies to any individual (regardless of immigration status) who is hired as an independent…
Uber. Lyft. Instacart. Caviar. Homejoy. It seems hard a month passes without news about a lawsuit alleging that these on-demand gig-economy services are ripping off their workers. Uber and Lyft alone have been sued in dozens of lawsuits alleging that they misclassified their drivers as independent contractors. Some drivers who sued Uber reached a class action settlement valued up to $100 million,…
If you’ve been on social media today, you probably know that it’s Equal Pay Day. Congratulations, ladies: we’re trending on Twitter (far ahead of #NationalGrilledCheeseDay). And now that we’re a solid four months into 2016, the average woman’s earnings have finally caught up to what the average man made…in 2015. If you’re anything like me, you’ve heard the oft-repeated statistic:…
Bureaucracy is boring. “Regulatory Plans,” “Notice and Comment,” “Final Rules”—the Administrative State tends to glaze eyes. But for a moment last July, the media set its gaze on bureaucracy. That’s because a bureaucratic agency, the Department of Labor, proposed a rule that could increase the wages of millions of workers. Specifically, the DOL proposal makes approximately 5 million additional “white…
For every woman who’s ever questioned if she is paid less than her male colleagues, President Obama has an answer: Let’s run the numbers. According to a proposed rule, businesses with more than 100 employees will soon provide salary data to the EEOC annually, along with the more general information on workforce demographics employers have supplied since 1966. This information, which…
I have been psychologically conditioned by American culture to feel that open discussion about salaries is deeply uncomfortable, as if it involved baring your personal finances. I have earned money ever since I was 9 years old, working as a mommy’s helper for neighbors, to supplement my small weekly allowance. And I learned very early on that it is not…