Perhaps not surprisingly, last week in a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court in Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. et al., v. Hewitt held that, despite earning more than $200,000 per year, an employee earning a daily rate is not exempt from overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The court analyzed whether the plaintiff fell within the “bona fide executive” exemption to the FLSA, finding that he did not because he was not paid on a “salary basis.”
The majority noted on multiple occasions that the FLSA requires time-and-a-half pay for work over 40 hours a week, even for workers whose compensation far exceeds minimum wage.
The decision affirmed the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruling that the plaintiff is entitled to overtime. Here is why. The bona fide executive emption has three parts and the parties agreed that two of three were satisfied – the salary level test and the duties test. The parties disputed the final part, the salary basis test, because the plaintiff was paid at least $963 per day (and up to $1,341 per day).
The Supreme Court explained the applicable regulation provides an employee is paid on a salary basis where the employee “receive[s] the full salary for any week in which [he] performs any work without regard to the number of days or hours worked.” Because the plaintiff was paid a daily rate, and could earn more or less depending on the days worked, the court determined the plaintiff’s pay did not fit the regulation’s...
False claims about the earthquake that killed 38 people in Japan have spread on social media, from denials that the tremor occurred at all to fabricated images of the wreckage. The magnitude-6.8 e...