Royal

Clarification on FLSA Overtime by Federal Appeals Court

February 1, 2023

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), employees are considered to have worked overtime when they work more than forty (40) hours in a single work week. Those employees are then owed time-and-a-half for their overtime work. However, salaried workers whose primary duties are related to the higher-level management of business functions, such as accounting or human resources operations, are exempt from those requirements.



In the case of Walsh v. Unitil Service Corp., a lower court failed to use relational analysis in determining whether claimants were “administrative” employees exempt from the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.


The opinion, issued on January 11th, 2023, stems from a dispute over whether dispatchers and controllers managed their employer’s business operations. Doing so would exempt those employees from the overtime rules.


The Appeals Court ruled that the lower court had wrongly determined that dispatchers and controllers working for Unitil, who spent roughly 60 percent of their workdays monitoring electrical and gas pipeline systems, were engaged in regulatory compliance, quality control, and health and safety tasks. While dispatchers and controllers were tasked with monitoring gas and electric distribution networks, they were not designing, planning, testing, or evaluating those systems.


The Appeals Court held that the duties of dispatchers and controllers working for Unitil, “. . . lack the level of generality required by the regulation and the case law to conclude, without further inquiry, that they were engaged in ‘management or general business operations’ as opposed to routine, day-to-day affairs.”


Therefore, the Appeals Court has remanded the case back to the lower court.


If your business has any questions on this topic or any other matters, please do not hesitate to contact the attorneys at The Royal Law Firm at 413-586-2288.  

Employer’s Counterclaims in Response to Suit Under Wage Act Dismissed Per Employee’s Anti-SLAPP Motion

January 15, 2025
An employer brought counterclaims of malicious prosecution and abuse-of-process in response to a Wage Act suit brought by an employee. The Appeals Court cited that the employer’s counterclaims should have been dismissed under the anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) law. Anti-SLAPP laws are meant to provide parties with a way to quickly dismiss meritless lawsuits filed against them, usually in response to a lawsuit. The plaintiff in this case, an hourly laborer, claimed that his employer violated the Wage Act by failing to pay him for four of the six weeks he worked for them. The employer refuted these allegations, stating that the employee had only worked for two weeks, that he had been paid in full and then brought counterclaims of malicious prosecution and abuse of process. The District Court judge denied the plaintiff’s motion to dismiss the counterclaims under the anti-SLAPP law. When brought to the Appeals Court, the decision was reversed; the Appeals Court stated that the defendants did not meet the burden of showing that plaintiff’s claims lacked an objectively reasonable factual basis. This ruling suggests that it might behoove an employer to pause and wait to see if a plaintiff’s Wage Act claim fails before filing a counterclaim of abuse of process or malicious prosecution in response.  If your business has any questions on this topic or any other matters, please do not hesitate to contact the attorneys at The Royal Law Firm at 413-586-2288.

Compensation Plans and Contingent Compensation Pitfalls

January 8, 2025
Attorney Trevor Brice hosted a seminar on Wednesday, January 8, 2025, discussing the possible issues with current compensation plans and contingent compensation pitfalls made possible by recent court rulings. Some of the topics discussed included: Issues with current compensation plans under the FLSA Restrictive Covenants and Compensation Plans Problems with Commission-Based Compensation Plans and Possible Solutions When a Bonus is not actually a bonus and issues under the Massachusetts Wage Act This seminar was perfect for H.R. professionals and anyone in a management position. Please feel free to contact any of the attorneys at The Royal Law Firm if you have any questions on this topic!
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