A legal expert in multiple practice areas that includes wage and hour litigation recently talked with Checkpoint Payroll Update regarding the legal battles and pending federal legislation surrounding student-athletes and whether they may be classified as employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in the future.
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) looks at the “economic realities” of the working relationship between the employer and employee when determining a worker’s status under the FLSA, explains Andrew Henson, an associate with the national law firm Troutman Pepper. “Federal courts have crafted different multi-factor tests to determine whether the economic realities of a given relationship are consistent with employment status,” Henson began. “However, there is currently no consensus about which test should be used.”
For more than seven decades, the DOL and courts have applied an “economic realities” test to determine if a worker is an employee or independent contractor under the FLSA. The DOL noted this in its October 13, 2022 notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to revise its analysis for worker classification from a current streamlined test focusing on two main economic realities to something more closely representing the broader range of factors historically used by the DOL and courts. The rule was to be issued in May 2023 but the DOL announced the final rule will be delayed until October 2023.
Observing a concerning trend of false complaints in sexual assault and other criminal cases driven by the prospect of financial gain, the Calcutta High Court has proposed a phased disbursement of ...