The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has issued its final overtime rule, which will make 1.3 million American workers eligible for overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), by raising the salary threshold for exempt employees.

In a significant decision, the California Supreme Court has ruled that the civil penalties a plaintiff may seek under section 558 through the PAGA do not include the “amount sufficient to recover underpaid wages.”

Bloomberg News is reporting that Google has agreed to pay $11 million to settle a class action accusing the company of discriminating against older job applicants.

On July 12, 2019, the Associated Press reported that Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta announced he is resigning following renewed scrutiny of his handling of a 2008 secret plea deal with wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein who is accused of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls.

The Ninth Circuit has held in Vazquez v. Jan-Pro Franchising International, Inc., that the California Supreme Court’s ruling in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court, applies retroactively.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced that it has issued a new opinion letter that addresses whether a service provider for a virtual marketplace company (“Gig” worker) is an employee of the company or an independent contractor under the FLSA. 

As reported by the National Law Review, on April 25, 2019, a federal judge approved the September 30, 2019 deadline for employers to submit EEO-1 pay data.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled, in a 5-4 decision (with the conservative justices in the majority), that class arbitration must be explicitly authorized.

The House has passed a bill, the “Paycheck Fairness Act”, which is intended to strength protections against wage discrimination. The chamber voted 242-187 for the Paycheck Fairness Act, with seven Republicans joining Democrats in voting for the bill. The bill was co-sponsored by 238 Democrats and GOP Rep. Chris Smith (N.J.). For more information read here.