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The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is making significant changes to the regulations covering the regular rate of pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for the first time in more than 50 years. The FLSA entitles most covered, nonexempt employees to receive overtime pay of at least one and one-half times the employee’s…

Earlier this month, we reported that the United States Department of Labor (DOL) was reportedly set to propose a new regulation that would update time-and-a-half pay requirements for all hours worked beyond 40 hours a week. The Department’s proposed rule would raise the currently-enforced salary threshold, thus extending overtime protection to more workers.

On March 7, 2019, the DOL issued a draft Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to update the salary threshold for overtime exemption from $23,660.00 annually to $35,308.00 annually. On March 22, 2019, the DOL formally published the NPRM in the Federal Register. As expected, workers who make less than about $35,308.00 per year would be automatically eligible for time-and-a-half pay for all hours worked beyond 40 a week under the proposed rule. The total annual compensation requirement for highly-compensated employees would also increase from $100,000.00 to $147,414.00 under the proposed rule. The proposed rule does not modify the “duties test,” a test used to determine whether workers who make more than the salary threshold are entitled to overtime wages.
Continue Reading DOL formally publishes notice of proposed rulemaking regarding salary threshold increase

Last week, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) was reportedly set to propose a new regulation that would update time-and-a-half pay requirements for all hours worked beyond 40 hours a week. The department’s proposed rule would raise the currently-enforced salary threshold, thus extending overtime protection to more workers. This would be the first such update to the salary threshold since 2004.

On March 7, 2019, the DOL announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to update the salary threshold from $23,660.00 annually to $35,308.00 annually. In other words, workers who make less than about $35,308.00 per year would be automatically eligible for time-and-a-half pay for all hours worked beyond 40 a week under the DOL’s proposal. Importantly, the proposed rule does not modify the “duties test,” a test used to determine whether workers who make more than the salary threshold are entitled to overtime wages. Furthermore, the proposed rule does not establish automatic, periodic increases of the salary threshold. Instead, the DOL is soliciting comments form the public regarding how the DOL should update overtime requirements every four years. The DOL released these details on its website ahead of the Federal Register’s expected publication of the regulation next week.
Continue Reading DOL releases notice of proposed rulemaking regarding salary threshold increase

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) has announced a new nationwide pilot program, called the Payroll Audit Independent Determination (PAID) program, which is designed to facilitate resolution of potential overtime and minimum wage violations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). According to the WHD’s website describing the program, the program’s primary objectives are to resolve wage and hour claims expeditiously and without litigation, to improve employers’ compliance with overtime and minimum wage obligations and to ensure that more employees promptly receive any owed back wages.

WHD states that it will implement this pilot program nationwide for approximately six months. At the end of the pilot period, WHD will evaluate the effectiveness of the pilot program, as well as potential modifications to the program to determine its next steps.
Continue Reading Wage and Hour Division announces pilot limited “amnesty” program

Many thanks to Arslan Sheikh for his assistance in preparing this post.

Last week, a federal judge in Texas struck down a proposed Obama-era rule that would have expanded the number of workers who qualify for overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

The proposed rule

In 2016, the Obama administration’s Department of Labor (DOL) planned to implement a new rule that would have more than doubled the minimum salary threshold for “exempt” status under the FLSA from $23,660 to $47,476 per year. Under the DOL’s proposed rule, an employee who made an annual salary below $47,476 would have been entitled to overtime pay for all hours worked beyond 40 a week. We last reported on the proposed salary increase in November of 2016, when federal court Judge Amos Mazzant of the Eastern District of Texas issued a nationwide preliminary injunction against the DOL’s rule. Our blog post outlines the Texas court’s holding and rationale.

What happened this week?

On Aug. 31, Judge Mazzant issued another decision, striking down the Obama administration’s proposed salary threshold rule. As a result, the minimum salary for exempt status under the FLSA will remain, for the time being at least, at $23,600.

Judge Mazzant held that the DOL exceeded its authority by issuing the proposed rule because the department focused too heavily on employees’ salary-levels, rather than their job duties, to determine if they were exempt from overtime under the FLSA. Judge Mazzant struck down the rule, holding that because the DOL’s proposed rule would have doubled the annual salary threshold from $23,660 to $47,476, it would have made salary-level the predominant factor in determining who is exempt from overtime under the FLSA. It should be noted, however, that Judge Mazzant did not rule on the general lawfulness of a salary-level test; he only evaluated the salary-level test the DOL proposed in this instance.
Continue Reading Texas district court strikes down Obama DOL’s proposed overtime rule

Today, the Department of Labor announced a proposed rule that would extend overtime pay to an additional 5 million Americans.  Currently, those executive, administrative, professional, outsides sales, and computer employees who make above $23,660 annually are exempt from the minimum wage and overtime requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Under the proposed regulation,…

Adding clarity to an often-litigated area of wage and hour law, the Sixth Circuit recently held that a small store manager was exempt from wage and hour overtime requirements despite her performance of non-managerial tasks and close supervision by her district manager.
Continue Reading Sixth Circuit Holds That Gas Station Manager Is An Executive Employee Under the FLSA