Supplemental materials for LEAP 2025 session Wage-and-Hour Pitfalls: Avoiding Common Employer Mistakes
Many states and municipalities have wage-and-hour laws that go beyond the mandates of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. The FLSA sets the floor for wage-and-hour rules, but states and cities are free to set standards that are more generous to employees. For example, the FLSA doesn’t require paying employees weekly, but some states do.
Recent case: Southwest Airlines employs baggage and cargo handlers at each airport where it operates. No matter where they work, those employees are all paid every two weeks.
Now, two Southwest baggage handlers have sued for wage-and-hour violations, and they want to make it a class-action lawsuit representing all similarly situated baggage handlers.
They claim that because they’re paid every two weeks, Southwest has failed to pay them on time. Why? Because the state of New York, where they work, requires that all manual workers be paid weekly. The law states that manual workers must be paid “at least once a week, not more than a week” after the work is done. The law defines manual workers as those who spend more than a quarter of their time performing physical tasks. Other workers in New York can be paid twice per month.
The lawsuit seeks damages of $100 million. If the court approves class-action status, the potential damages will rise. (Strain, et al., v. Southwest Airlines, ED NY, 2025)
Advice: Ensure your payroll department (or your payroll processor) is familiar with wage-and-hour requirements wherever you operate.
Interested in joining HR Employment Law Advisor? For a limited time, LEAP 2025 attendees can get an annual membership at 30% off at https://www.hremploymentlawadvisor.com/leap30.
