Defending the Overtime Number: The 2026 W-2 and Employer Wage-and-Hour Exposure

Lisa “Lee” A. Schreter | Littler Mendelson, PC

Lisa “Lee” A. Schreter is a nationally recognized expert who specializes in representing employers in complex class and collective actions involving discrimination, child labor, overtime and other wage-related claims. She also assists employers in developing forward-thinking compliance measures that reduce wage and hour disputes and other employment-related issues.

• Education & Credentials

Ms. Schreter earned her Juris Doctor cum laude from Georgia State University in 1991, her Master of Science in Industrial Relations there in 1987, and her Bachelor of Arts from Ithaca College in 1981. She is admitted in Georgia under Bar No. 629852 and before the Supreme Court of the United States, the Supreme Court of Georgia, the First, Second, Sixth, Seventh, Ninth and Eleventh Circuits, and federal district courts in Georgia and Connecticut.

• Recognition & Leadership

Ms. Schreter has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America from 2008 through 2027 and ranked in Chambers USA for Labor & Employment from 2009 through 2026. The National Law Journal named her a Trailblazer in Litigation in 2016 and an Outstanding Woman Lawyer in 2015, and she was a Law360 Female Powerbroker in 2014 and a BTI Consulting Group Client Service All-Star in 2019. She is a former chairperson and former member of Littler’s Board of Directors, a member of its Diversity Council, and former chair of its Nominating Committee.]

• Professional Involvement

Ms. Schreter is a member of the Atlanta Bar Association and of the American Bar Association’s Litigation, Labor and Employment, and Individual Rights sections and its Committee on Fair Labor Standards. She is a Charter Senior Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America and a Registered Neutral with the Georgia Office of Dispute Resolution.

• Experience

Lee also represents management clients in negotiations with the U.S. Department Labor in national matters that involve such issues as independent contractor misclassification exempt status of employees and overall compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Lee also represents and counsels clients in connection with many other labor and employment matters arising under federal and state laws such as The Equal Pay Act, The Service Contract Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and state law wage and hour requirements.

She is also a skilled mediator and arbitrator, certified by the state of Georgia. Prior to becoming an attorney, Lee worked in human resources management where she gained extensive experience in wage and hour issues, compensation design, employee relations, salary and benefit administration and general employment matters.

Pierre-Joseph Noebes | Littler Mendelson, PC

Pierre-Joseph Noebes practices in the Atlanta office of Littler Mendelson, PC, where he represents and counsels employers in a broad range of employment matters arising under federal and state law. A 2017 graduate of Georgia State University College of Law, he came to management-side practice after clerking for an administrative law judge at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

• Education & Credentials

Mr. Noebes earned his Juris Doctor from Georgia State University College of Law in 2017 and his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Georgia in 2014. In law school he received the CALI Award for Accounting for Lawyers in the fall of 2016 and was named Best Overall Advocate by the Moot Court Board. He is admitted to practice in Georgia and before the Supreme Court of Georgia, the Georgia Court of Appeals, and the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

• Recognition & Leadership

Mr. Noebes has been named to Ones to Watch by The Best Lawyers in America for 2026 and 2027. He served on the Moot Court Board, which recognized him as Best Overall Advocate, and he has continued that work as a teaching associate in the Trial Advocacy Program at Georgia State University College of Law.

• Professional Involvement

Mr. Noebes has served as a member of the Alumni Council of Georgia State University College of Law since 2017. His published work includes HB 513 – Civil Practice Act: Anti-SLAPP, 33 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 109 (2016).

• Experience

Mr. Noebes clerked for an administrative law judge at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He served as a legal intern with a workers’ compensation defense firm in the Atlanta area and, separately, as a legal intern for an email marketing service, where he handled contract, intellectual property, employment and data security matters. He also served as a teaching associate in the Trial Advocacy Program at Georgia State University College of Law.

SESSION 1 – Coding Qualified Overtime on the 2026 W-2: Mechanics, Exclusions, and Penalty Exposure | 2:30pm – 3:30pm

This session covers the mechanics of reporting qualified overtime compensation in Box 12 using Code TT on the 2026 W-2, as required by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), P.L. 119-21, and IRC § 225. Attorneys will learn how to isolate the FLSA-mandated overtime premium from total overtime pay, identify which employees and payments are excluded from qualified overtime status, and assess employer exposure under IRC §§ 6721 and 6722 for incorrect or missing Code TT reporting. Attendees will leave with a working understanding of the calculation methodologies, payroll system readiness requirements, and the compliance gap left by the expiration of 2025 transition relief under IRS Notice 2025-62.

BREAK | 3:30pm – 3:40pm

SESSION 2 – The Privileged Payroll Audit: Remediating Regular-Rate Errors Before the W-2 Deadline | 3:40pm – 4:40pm

This session teaches attorneys how to structure a legally privileged payroll audit to identify and remediate regular-rate-of-pay errors before the W-2 filing deadline, including the new OBBBA-driven cascade problem linking incorrect regular rates to misstated qualified overtime deductions. Attorneys will learn the structural requirements for maintaining attorney-client privilege and work-product protection over payroll audits, the mechanics of the DOL’s relaunched PAID program, and the step-by-step remediation sequence for correcting errors before they become W-2c obligations or litigation targets. Attendees will leave with a practical framework for advising employers on privilege structuring, PAID program eligibility, and documented good-faith defenses under 29 U.S.C. § 260.