Florida’s Minimum Wage Increases a Little Bit for 2017
While the federal minimum wage remains stuck — since 2009 — at $7.25 an hour, Florida’s own state minimum wage has increased to $8.10 for 2017. It had been $8.05 an hour. Of the 21 states that have raised their minimum wages for 2017, Florida is one of four that increased the existing minimum wage…
Obama Administration to Appeal Ruling Prohibiting New Overtime Pay Rule
The U.S. Department of Labor will appeal a recent nationwide injunction that blocked the implementation of a new overtime pay rule that had been set to take effect on December 1. The DOL said it would appeal to the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans a November decision by U.S. District Judge Amos…
Obama’s New “White Collar” Overtime Rules Blocked by Texas Federal Judge
A federal judge in Sherman, Texas, has issued a nationwide preliminary injunction blocking the implementation of new Obama Administration “white collar” exemption rules. The new rules were set to take effect on December 1, and would have expanded by more than four million the number of American workers entitled to receive overtime pay. The Department…
New Form I-9 Required for Employers as of January 22, 2017
Employers may obtain and start using the new I-9 “Employment Eligibility Verification” federal government form for their employees now, but must start doing so no later than Sunday, January 22, 2017. On that date, all previous versions of Form I-9 will be deemed invalid. After January 21, 2017, employers must use only the revised Form I-9…
New Overtime Pay “White Collar” Rules Challenged in Lawsuits Filed by 21 States
The state attorneys general of Nevada and Texas have a filed a federal court lawsuit seeking to declare invalid the Obama Administration’s new “white collar” exemption rules governing the payment of overtime compensation. They ask the court to vacate and set aside the new rules. Nineteen other states, not including Florida, also joined the lawsuit…
California Farmworkers Get New Overtime Pay Benefits
California, often a path-breaking state in the field of workers’ rights, has adopted legislation expanding the right to receive overtime pay for an estimated more than 825,000 farmworkers across the state. The bill, promoted by the United Farm Workers of America, was signed into law by Democratic Governor Jerry Brown on September 12 after it…
NLRB Rules Once Again That Employers Cannot Prohibit Employees From Asserting Class Actions — Even Though the Courts Hold to the Contrary
Refusing to acknowledge court decisions to the contrary, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has ruled once again that an employer that enforces a policy requiring its employees to waive their right to pursue class, collective, or representative actions in an arbitration or in court, is violating federal labor laws. In two cases involving former…
Democratic Congressmen Seek to Delay Full Implementation of New Overtime Pay Rules
A bill co-sponsored by North Florida congresswoman Gwen Graham, D-Tallahassee, is seeking to slow down the full implementation of impending changes to the overtime classification regulations pushed through by the Obama Administration. The new regulations enacted by the U.S. Labor Department are set to go into effect on December 1, 2016, affecting every private employer…
The National Labor Relations Board rules that college student assistants are employees and may unionize
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has decided that graduate and undergraduate student teaching and research assistants who perform paid duties at private colleges and universities are employees with the right to form unions and negotiate collective bargaining agreements. In a case deciding petitions filed by student assistants at Columbia University and at The New…
Update on Miami Beach Minimum Wage
Miami Beach’s City Commission has voted unanimously to create a citywide minimum wage proposed by Mayor Philip Levine that is higher than both the state and federal minimum wages. Only businesses that have a business license with the city of Miami Beach and are required to pay the federal minimum wage will be required to…
