FLSA Violation

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Robert Schaefer, et al v. Walker Bros, Enterprises, Inc., et al

Case No.: 15-1058

Officials: WOOD, Chief Judge, and BAUER and EASTERBROOK, Circuit Judges.

Focus: FLSA Violation

Restaurant meets statutory minimum for payment of minimum wage.

“Schaefer asserts that the poster is “not enough” but does not explain why it is inadequate. If posters don’t count, what’s the point of requiring them? In lieu of making an argument, Schaefer points us to Driver v. AppleIllinois, LLC, 917 F. Supp. 2d 793, 801–03 (N.D. Ill. 2013). Driver thought the Department of Labor’s own pre-2011 poster inadequate because it did not contain all five pieces of information specified by the 2011 regulation, and in particular omitted the requirement that employees keep their tips unless the employer uses tip pooling. But regulatory changes are not retroactive, see Bowen v. Georgetown University Hospital, 488 U.S. 204 (1988), and we have explained why the statute on its own does not necessarily call for all of the advice required by the regulation. It would be hard to fault an employer for providing exactly the information the Department of Labor then required, in the Department’s own words. Schaefer does not contend that he was unable to keep all tips he received. The handbook and poster together supply the restaurants’ workers with the three pieces of information that we believe constitute the statutory minimum.”

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.