Keepin’ It Real: Wage and Hour Issues in the Reality TV Industry

In September 2014, four reality TV participants on the show Texas Car Wars sued the network Megalomedia for violating the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) alleging that Megalomedia did not pay them in full for their time on the show.  According to the participants, film shoots regularly exceeded 40 hours per week and participants were …

Pay Attention to Requests for ERISA Plan Documents or Risk the Con$equence$

Every so often an employer sponsoring an ERISA employee benefit plan will receive a written request from a participant or beneficiary (or their legal counsel) to provide plan related documents. Sometimes the request asks for specific documents and sometimes the request is broader, asking for all instruments under which the plan is established or operated, …

Recent Changes to the H-1B Specialty Worker Program

Labor Condition Applications must be filed under the new DOL’S FLAG System As part of the U.S. Department of Labor’s (“USDOL”) technology modernization initiative, the FLAG System (Foreign Labor Application Gateway) was developed to replace the legacy iCert system with the USDOL’s stated goal of improving customer service, and modernizing the administration of foreign labor …

Federal Court Holds Cannabis Businesses are Subject to Federal Wage Laws

In Kenney v. Helix TCS, Inc. No. 18-1105 (10th Cir. Sept. 20, 2019), the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals held that employers in the cannabis industry must abide by the wage/hour requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) despite that cannabis remains federally prohibited as a Schedule 1 controlled substance under the Controlled Substances …