
Fred Wang is a student at Harvard Law School.
In today’s News & Commentary, the debate over the tipped subminimum wage heats up, while the Supreme Court hears a case on overtime for highly paid workers.
The debate over wage rules for tipped workers is “heating up,” the New York Times says, as states and municipalities move to rework their tipped-worker wage laws. Here’s the controversy in a nutshell: In most states, an employee is allowed to pay a “subminimum” wage — in some places, as low as $2.13 an hour — to a worker who receives tips, so long as that worker’s total earnings in a pay period equals or exceeds the minimum wage. Critics have long argued that the subminimum-wage model is exploitative — and that it disproportionately harms women workers and workers of color. Part of the issue is that employees are rarely made whole during below-minimum pay periods. Another problem is that managers can use lucrative shifts to keep employees in line. Many businesses, however, have insisted that the system better suits the skills and needs of workers who choose tipped restaurant jobs.
In other employee-compensation news, the Supreme Court last Wednesday heard oral arguments in Helix Energy Solutions Group v. Hewitt — a dispute over whether someone making over $200,000 a year, but is paid by the day, hour, or shift, is entitled to overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The technical question is whether Hewitt — an employee at Helix Energy who earned more than $200,000 per year on a daily rate of at least $963 — earned a “salary” (and was therefore exempt from the FLSA’s overtime requirements). As Prof. Charlotte Garden explains in SCOTUSblog, the case has important implications for classes of workers — say, nurses — who earn six figures, but on a by-shift or by-hour basis. For more on the parties’ arguments and justices’ questions, check out Prof. Garden’s SCOTUSblog recap!
Daily News & Commentary
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October 20
Supreme Court won't review SpaceX decision, courts uphold worker-friendly interpretation of EFAA, EEOC focuses on opioid-related discrimination.
October 19
DOL issues a new wage rule for H-2A workers, Gov. Newsom vetoes a bill that regulates employers’ use of AI, and Broadway workers and management reach a tentative deal
October 17
Third Circuit denies DOL's en banc rehearing request; Washington AG proposes legislation to protect immigrant workers; UAW files suit challenging government surveillance of non-citizen speech
October 16
NLRB seeks injunction of California’s law; Judge grants temporary restraining order stopping shutdown-related RIFs; and Governor Newsom vetoes an ILWU supported bill.
October 15
An interview with former NLRB chairman; Supreme Court denies cert in Southern California hotel case
October 14
Census Bureau layoffs, Amazon holiday hiring, and the final settlement in a meat producer wage-fixing lawsuit.