Tag: 9th Circuit

9th Circuit Rules Private Texts Aren’t Protected Speech

One of the nightmares of HR professionals is to be told about a workplace problem “privately as a friend.” Whether something is an informal chat between friends or public notice of a problem is very hard to determine. That was essentially the question in deciding whether a Rancho Cordova sheriff was engaging in protected speech […]

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Overtime: Are Mortgage Loan Underwriters Exempt ‘Administrative’ Employees?

Among the various “exemptions” from the overtime compensation requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) are “administrative” employees. The question presented in a recent decision by the 9th Circuit—which covers Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington—was whether mortgage loan underwriters who work for lending banks fit the administrative exemption.

Know the Rules for On-call Workers

By Arthur Silbergeld, Esq. Anyone who works on a computer knows the sinking feeling that comes with hitting that nasty combination of keystrokes causing your machine to freeze. The fact that many companies now keep IT staff available around the clock just to help frantic employees get their misbehaving computers working, retrieve lost documents and […]

Equalizing Pay for Long Shifts and Short Shifts

Let’s say you have some employees who work long, 12-hour shifts and others who work traditional eight-hour shifts. The 12-hour employees work four shifts one week (48 hours), then three shifts the second week (36 hours) and another three shifts the third week (36 hours). This 4-3-3 schedule would be repeated every three weeks, resulting […]