On August 31, 2017, a federal district court judge in Texas struck down the Department of Labor’s Obama-era controversial 2016 rule that raised the minimum salary threshold required to qualify for the Fair Labor Standards Act’s “white collar” exemption. Under the proposed regulations, the minimum salary threshold was raised to just over $47,000 per year, and increased the overtime eligibility threshold for highly compensated workers from $100,000 to about $134,000.… Continue Reading
The U.S. Department of Labor continues to work towards dismantling the Obama administration’s overtime rule, saying that it intends to revise the controversial rule to lower the salary threshold under the Fair Labor Standards Act’s white-collar exemptions. The Obama administration’s rule sought to more than double the current salary requirement of $23,660 a year for white-collar exemptions. Though the rule was estimated to make 4 million additional workers eligible for overtime pay, it was also expected to cause employers significant financial and regulatory burdens.… Continue Reading
On June 12, 2017, the Office of Labor Management Standards of the Department of Labor (DOL) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that proposes to rescind the controversial “persuader rule” implemented by the DOL under the Obama administration. This rule sought to require disclosure of advice to employers from consultants and attorneys who engage in activities designed to persuade employees not to unionize.… Continue Reading
With an eye towards “increasingly unaffordable” higher education, President Trump signed an Executive Order on June 15, 2017, seeking to “provide more affordable pathways to secure, high paying jobs by promoting apprenticeships and effective workforce development programs, while easing the regulatory burden on such programs and reducing or eliminating taxpayer support for ineffective workforce development programs.”… Continue Reading
One of the most controversial regulatory actions from the US Department of Labor during the Obama administration was the DOL’s regulation significantly increasing the salary level under the Fair Labor Standards Act’s white-collar exemptions. The regulation sought to more than double the current salary requirement of $23,660 per year, and it included an automatic updating requirement that would have accelerated future salary level increases at a rate well above the rate of inflation. … Continue Reading
In a press release issued this morning, the Department of Labor has announced that it is withdrawing two administrative interpretations issued by the Department of Labor under the Obama administration in 2015 and 2016 relating to misclassification of independent contractors and joint employment.… Continue Reading
On May 23, 2017, the Department of Labor released its budget proposal for fiscal year 2018. The budget contains several cost-cutting measures that reflect the new priorities of the Trump administration. A notable aspect of the proposed budget is a request to merge the EEOC and OFCCP.… Continue Reading
On November 22, a federal judge in the Eastern District of Texas preliminarily enjoined the Department of Labor’s final overtime rule, which would have expanded overtime eligibility to executive, administrative, and professional employees making less than $47,476 per year, who were previously exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act’s requirements under its white collar exemption. The final rule was scheduled to go into effect on December 1, 2016.… Continue Reading
On November 16, 2016, Judge Amos L. Mazzant, heard more than three hours of oral argument from a group of 21 States (“State Plaintiffs”) challenging the Department of Labor’s new overtime rule. Following the hearing, the motion for a preliminary injunction of the rule was taken under advisement and a ruling is forthcoming on Tuesday, November 22,2016. Judge Mazzant’s pointed criticism of the rule during argument suggests employers may have reason to be optimistic.… Continue Reading
Yesterday, a federal court issued a preliminary injunction temporarily preventing the DOL from implementing and enforcing its recent Persuader Rule pertaining to outside consultants’ (including lawyers) reporting obligations in the labor relations context.… Continue Reading
Roland Juarez will present a webinar on “Final, New DOL Overtime Rule: Strategies to Mitigate Impact of 100% Increase in White-Collar Exemption” on June 22, 2016.… Continue Reading
The United States Department of Labor has announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to implement Executive Order 13706, which requires federal government contractors to provide employees with up to 7 days of paid sick leave annually. As a result, the DOL estimates that employers will be compelled to provide additional paid leave to 828,000 employees, including 437,000 employees who do not currently receive any paid sick leave.… Continue Reading
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), employers who use a tip credit to satisfy their minimum wage obligations for tipped employees must follow certain rules related to those tips. One of those rules relates to the use of tip pools – i.e., pooling of tips received by multiple tipped employees and then dividing the total among the pool participants based on a specified formula. … Continue Reading
The United States Supreme Court has denied a restaurant manager’s petition seeking review of whether parties may stipulate to the dismissal with prejudice of a lawsuit alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), or whether judicial or Department of Labor (“DOL”) approval is a prerequisite to such a dismissal, as the Second Circuit held in his case, Cheeks v. Freeport Pancake House, Inc. Having declined the petition for writ of certiorari, FLSA lawsuits will remain more difficult to resolve for employers in New York, Connecticut, and Vermont. … Continue Reading
On January 20, 2016, the administrator of the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD), David Weil, issued an “Administrator’s Interpretation” (AI) regarding the agency’s interpretation of joint employment under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA). … Continue Reading
As we previously reported, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued a proposed rule expected to significantly increase the number of employees who are eligible for overtime. Most notably, the proposed rule seeks to increase the minimum salary threshold for exempt workers from the current level of $23,660 to $50,440.… Continue Reading
On Friday, August 21, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the U.S. Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) 2013 rule extending FLSA overtime and minimum wage protections to employees of home health care agencies who provide “companionship services” or live-in domestic care.… Continue Reading
On July 15, 2015, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued guidance which it claims is designed to reduce the misclassification of employees as independent contractors under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). … Continue Reading
In a closely watched case, Glatt v. Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc. (decided July 2, 2015), the Second Circuit rejected the Department of Labor's ("DOL") intern test under the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"), and adopted a balancing test that focuses on whether the employee or the employer is the primary beneficiary of the relationship ("primary beneficiary test").… Continue Reading
Yesterday, the Department of Labor issued a proposed rule that is expected to significantly increase the number of employees who are eligible for overtime. The proposed rule increases the minimum salary threshold for exempt workers from the current level of $23,660 to $50,440.… Continue Reading
Recent guidelines have been issued by the Department of Labor in connection with President Obama's "Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces" Executive Order 13673. Interested parties will have until July 27, 2015 to submit written comments to the Regulatory Secretariat for consideration before the proposals are finalized.… Continue Reading
As the national debate regarding rights for same sex couples continues, more and more states are granting marital rights to members of the same sex. Although we are only in the second quarter of 2015, five states have either passed legislation or have high court rulings that expand the rights of same sex couples.… Continue Reading
Federal agencies need not go through the formal and drawn-out "notice-and-comment" process when altering an interpretation of a regulation. In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court in Perez v. Mortgage Bankers Association stated that the Administrative Procedure Act (the "APA") does not mandate notice-and-comment rulemaking for interpretive rules.… Continue Reading
As we previously reported, federal courts around the country have slowly begun to take a more flexible approach to evaluating the enforceability of private FLSA settlement agreements, calling into question the widely-held, decades-old view that settlements of FLSA claims are unenforceable unless they are approved by the DOL or a court.… Continue Reading
