The U.S. Supreme Court's clarification on the evidentiary standard for Fair Labor Standards Act exemption cases and state high court decisions regarding the Portal-to-Portal Act and the penalty for missed arbitration fee deadlines were among the major wage and hour rulings in 2025.
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Just two weeks into 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court held that courts should not use a heightened evidence standard when considering FLSA exemptions.
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Jason Reisman of management-side firm Blank Rome LLP said the decision made sense in light of Encino Motorcars LLC v. Navarro, in which the justices in 2018 held that FLSA exemptions should not be construed narrowly.
"This ties a nice bow around what employers need to do when they're trying to establish an exemption," said Reisman, who is also president of the Wage and Hour Defense Institute. "They get a fair interpretation of it, and yeah, it's their burden, but their burden is purely a 'preponderance' burden."
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"Biggest Wage And Hour Rulings Of 2025," by Max Kutner was published in Law360 Employment Authority on December 18, 2025.