Thanks to Law360 for alerting us to this!

Straight from the courthouse to you -- I haven't even read this yet, but here is a copy of the lawsuit, which was filed today in federal court in the Eastern District of Texas.

UPDATE (4:41 p.m. EDT): Here's another one, filed in the same court - this one is some trade groups and a slew of Chambers of Commerce in Texas!

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And some catching up we have to do!

Everyone is back to school, and our friend David Phippen is back with the July-August edition of the Executive Labor Summary. David has the best summary of the National Labor Relations Board's position on employer handbook policies that I've ever seen. (Well, with the possible exception of the last one he did . . .) Seriously, do check it out. He also ...

Employers, when was the last time you had a real makeover? Let's do one now!

The new white-collar exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act will go into effect December 1, but it's a good idea for employers to prepare now because there are a lot of changes that will have to be made, communicated, and taught to employees before then.

The salary threshold for most white-collar ...

The U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. Steel have settled their OSHA retaliation lawsuit over the suspension of two employees who failed to comply with the company's "Immediate Reporting Policy," which required employees to report workplace injuries and illnesses . . . immediately. That's nice, but it's even nicer that the settlement, which is publicly available, includes a new ...

Well, maybe not light reading, but good reading about good news that you won't want to miss! Here are our bulletins and other publications from the last week, in case you missed them:

*Heather Owen is already shooting off Fourth of July fireworks at the FOCUS women's leadership blog because our firm was named this week by the National Law Journal as the fourth best law firm in the ...

U.S. District Court Judge Sam R. Cummings in Lubbock, Texas, has issued a preliminary injunction, which blocks the U.S. Department of Labor's "Persuader Rule" from going into effect on Friday. I have not had a chance to read the decision yet, but here it is. This is great news for employers. Many thanks to my law partner, Mel Haas, who had the inside scoop and shared it with the rest of us ...

My first job out of college was as a non-exempt clerical, and I wasn't a very "good fit." The work aside, I chafed at the rigid rules about start times-stop times-breaks-lunch hours-quitting times. If there was some work that I wanted to finish up and it was "lunch time," I couldn't take the extra 15 minutes needed to get it done. I had to stop right then and there, and go to lunch, or at least ...

In honor of Memorial Day weekend, here's a summary of the rights of employees who take leaves of absence to serve our country, and their family members.

USERRA

The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 protects employees who leave their jobs to serve in various military capacities.

Five year (or more) rule. An employee's right of reemployment is good for at ...

BREAKING NEWS:  CALIFORNIA FALLS INTO THE SEA!

Well, not exactly.  But some natural phenomena occur only once or twice in a lifetime—like Halley’s Comet, or the turn of the Millennium, or the Mets winning the pennant.  Another one happened today:  the FLSA has become more protective or workers than California law, which is ordinarily the nation’s statistical outlier in the ...

Vice President Joe Biden is expected to announce the official release of the U.S. Department of Labor's new overtime rule this afternoon in an appearance at Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream in Columbus, Ohio. I'll post the rule, which will change the white-collar overtime exemptions to the Fair Labor Standards Act, as soon as it's available. Meanwhile, the DOL has already released the ...