Employment Law: Wage & Hour Regulation

Both state and federal laws establish minimum wages and require additional compensation for overtime hours. These deceptively simple legislative commands have spawned a complex and fascinating body of substantive and procedural rules. In recent years, wage and hour law claims have become something of a growth industry. Major management-side firms have established practice subgroups to defend employers against a wave of class and collective actions. And increasingly sophisticated plaintiff's attorneys have identified new potential violations and filed steadily more claims against employers in a succession of prominent industries. In the political arena, considerable controversy has surrounded recent efforts to raise the minimum wage, to revise overtime exemptions, to issue guidance about classifying workers as independent contractors, and to determine when unpaid internships are permissible. The course will introduce students to this vibrant area of law and legal practice. The field combines elements of administrative law, civil procedure, statutory interpretation, industrial policy, and labor economics. Our goal will be to develop detailed knowledge of the relevant statutes and regulations and to learn how wage and hour law specialists approach both counseling and litigation practice. In order to develop your understanding of wage and hour law, we will read judicial opinions, statutes, briefs and other litigation materials, as well as academic and popular commentary. We will focus the majority of our classroom time together on active learning exercises, including problems, simulations, and debates. I will deliver brief in-class lectures highlighting key issues and offer frequent opportunities for you to ask questions. You will often work in small peer groups to analyze problems and debate legal policies. Designed to complement Employment Law: Contracts, Torts & Statutes, Employment Law: Health & Safety, Employee Benefit Law, and Employment Discrimination Law, this course has no prerequisite, and students should feel free to take these introductory employment law offerings in any order they wish.