The pharmaceutical industry has been put under the microscope recently in several wage-and-hour cases dealing with the classification of sales representatives. Traditionally, the industry had classified these employees as exempt from the overtime and minimum wage requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act on the theory that they met the “outside sales” exemption. Although the [...]
In honor of Mother’s Day, we consider how employers can create workplace policies that recognize the needs of employees – mothers, fathers, even neighbors – with caregiving responsibilities. Hiring should focus on the applicant’s qualifications, not pregnancy, child care, or other family issues. Assumptions and stereotypes are dangerous. Not all women take on caregiving [...]
Misclassifying employees as “independent contractors” may put employers in triple jeopardy. The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is teaming up with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and state agencies to crack down on “misclassification.” Thirteen state labor agencies have joined forces with the federal DOL in this initiative. This coordination will lead to a [...]
Breastfeeding is widely regarded as ideal for healthy development of infants. Due to workplace barriers, many mothers who breastfeed their infants abandon breastfeeding when they return to work. A growing movement supports workplace policies to facilitate breastfeeding and while employer obligations already exist, they exist without much fanfare. That is likely to change; are you [...]
Swiss pharmaceutical manufacturer Novartis thought it was playing by the rules when it treated its sales representatives as exempt from overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (the “FLSA”). Now it is paying $99 million to settle a class action lawsuit by its sales representatives, not to mention six years’ worth of attorneys’ fees. The [...]