Wage & Hour Matters
Creative strategies to maximize compliance, minimize risks and defend wage and hour investigations and lawsuits.
WHY LOCKE LORD
Locke Lord possesses a highly regarded national wage and hour defense practice. With the dramatic increase in wage and hour claims and ever-changing federal and state regulations, wage and hour compliance has become of unparalleled importance to employers. Alleged violations of federal and state wage and hour laws, including overtime pay, misclassification of workers, unpaid break time and more, have proliferated and become a primary focus of plaintiffs' counsel. Employers must ensure that their wage and hour policies and practices comply with applicable federal and state laws or risk substantial exposure.
Our employment lawyers regularly perform wage and hour compliance audits for employers as well as provide guidance regarding issues such as employee classification, hours worked, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and payroll expense control and planning. Locke Lord's compliance assistance also includes best practices involving management training and policy preparation.
We have substantial experience in defending employers against claims brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act and parallel state laws before federal and state trial and appellate courts. Litigation matters with which we commonly have assisted include:
- Collective action certifications
- Exemption classifications, including white collar exemptions and the Motor Carrier Act exemption
- Unpaid overtime allegations
- Minimum wage assertions
- "Off the clock," on-call, “donning and doffing” and other critical hours worked disputes
- Matters regarding bonuses, per diems and other amounts paid to employees but excluded from calculations of overtime
- Independent contractor misclassification cases
- Alleged recordkeeping deficiencies