On April 23, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor published a final rule raising the minimum weekly salary many exempt employees must be paid to qualify as exempt from overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The new rule raises the salary basis threshold for executive, administrative, professional and computer professional exempt employees from $684
dol
Department of Labor Rolls Out Pilot Program for Employers to Correct Inadvertent Wage and Hour Violations
One of the biggest criticisms I have of the FLSA is that it provides no safe harbor or protection for an employer, who having realized it made a wage and hour mistake, to voluntarily self-report and correct its mistake. Instead, it can encourage employers who learn of a potential FLSA violation that has not otherwise been discovered to continue its current practice hoping that the violation will not be discovered. This week the U.S. Department of Labor announced its Payroll Audit Independent Determination (PAID) program that takes a step in providing employers with an incentive to voluntarily identify and self-correct wage and hour violations. The stated purpose of the program is to
Continue Reading Department of Labor Rolls Out Pilot Program for Employers to Correct Inadvertent Wage and Hour Violations
U.S. Department of Labor Revises and Clarifies Unpaid Intern Test
The U.S. Department of Labor recently abandoned its six-factor internship test in favor of the seven-factor primary beneficiary test utilized by most Courts. The primary benefit test adopts a temporal limitation for the internship that was not in the old six-factor test and incorporates two elements linking eligibility to the intern’s education programs and academic…
BREAKING NEWS: Federal Judge Blocks DOL Final Rule on White Collar Exemptions
Today, a Texas federal judge issued a nationwide preliminary injunction blocking the implementation of the U.S. Department of Labor’s final rule imposing an increased salary level to qualify for the administrative, professional, executive and highly-compensated exemptions to overtime. Short of an order staying the district judge’s injunction, the DOL’s rule will be on hold, nationwide,…
DOL Publishes Final Rule Requiring Federal Contractors to Provide Paid Sick Leave
This week the DOL published its final rule requiring federal contractors to provide paid sick leave to employees working on or in connection with federal contracts. The sick leave required by the final rule would allow an employee to use accrued paid sick leave for their own illness, the need to care for a sick…
Use the New Overtime Rules to Correct Misclassified Workers
This week the DOL announced changes to the white collar overtime exemptions that take effect December 1, 2016. Every employment lawyer with a newsletter, blog or soapbox has written some summary of the new regulations. And while the regulations only effect the executive, administrative, professional and high compensated exemptions, Daniel Schwartz, a Connecticut employment…
DOL Announces Details of Final Rule Changing Regulations on the Overtime Exemptions
Last night the U.S. Department of Labor announced details of its long-awaited Final Rule on changes to the regulations interpreting the overtime exemptions to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The FLSA is the federal law requiring most employers to pay minimum wages and overtime to nonexempt employees. The Final Rule raises the minimum salary…
DOL Publishes The Employer’s Guide to the FMLA: And its Pretty Good!
Last week the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division published The Employer’s Guide to the FMLA. The Department intended the Guide to be an informational resource to “provide essential information about the FMLA” and increase employer’s knowledge of the law, obligations and options available to employers administering FMLA leave.
The Guide is…
Paying Nonexempt Employees at Different Rates for Different Work
With the slowdown in the oil patch, many service providers are looking for ways to better match employee compensation with reduced amount of work and revenue available without having to reduce headcount. One way to accomplish this objective is to pay different rates for different work. For example, a company may elect to pay a…
DOL Issues Administrator Interpretation on Misclassification of Independent Contrators
I’ve written several times on the topic of employee v. independent contractor misclassification (here, here, here, here, here, here). Yesterday, the DOL issued an Administrator’s Interpretation attempting to provide additional guidance, and the Department’s opinion, on the application of the standards for determining whether a worker is an…