The Employer’s Wage and Hour Advisor

Recently, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals (which covers Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin) held that, under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), nonexempt employees must be compensated for travel time spent away from home when that travel cuts across their workday. The decision highlights some of the pitfalls travel time creates for unwary employers, and underscores the need for businesses to review their travel time policies. 

Filings under California’s Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”) hit an all-time high in 2023, with 7,780 PAGA notices filed with the California Department of Industrial Relations.  As an attempt to rein in the tidal wave of PAGA litigation, the California legislature and Governor Newsom enacted employer-friendly amendments to PAGA amid the looming threat of a November 2024 ballot initiative that, if approved, would have largely repealed PAGA.