DOL Says Emergency Pay Premiums Must Be Included In The Regular Rate When Calculating Overtime Pay

An employer must include premium emergency pay in the regular pay rate when calculating an employee’s overtime pay, according to a September 30 opinion letter from DOL’s Wage and Hour Division. The letter responds to a firefighter asking whether “emergency pay” —premium pay for working during a disaster or declared emergency — must be included in the regular rate. The Fair...

DOL Says Front-Of-House Oyster Shuckers Can Participate In Tip Pool

A new Labor Department opinion letter confirms that restaurants may include front-of-house oyster shuckers in traditional tip pools with servers. The opinion letter concludes that front-of-house oyster shuckers, who interact with customers but don’t directly receive tips, may be included in a traditional tip pool with servers for whom the employer takes a tip credit. The Fair Labor Standards Act...

DOL Issues Guidance on Joint Employment

A new DOL opinion letter concludes that a restaurant and a members’ club located inside the same hotel were joint employers under the Fair Labor Standards Act. DOL found that the following facts suggested joint employment: Facilities appearing operationally integrated, including physical proximity, common spaces, and common services; Shared ownership; Management teams that periodically supervised work for the other entity;...

Court Decides When Remote Workday Begins

A remote worker’s workday does not begin when the worker turns on the computer, a federal judge ruled September 4 in Lott v. Recker Consulting. The workday starts when a remote worker opens and begins operating a program used as part of their principal work activities, and it ends when the employee closes out of the last such program, the judge...

DOL Halts Enforcement of Obama-era Home Care Rules

The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has issued a Field Assistance Bulletin instructing its field offices to stop enforcing rules from 2013 that narrowed Fair Labor Standards Act exemptions for home care workers while it considers implementing a broader exemption. These rules had limited exemptions for workers who were hired directly by care recipients (rather than through home care...

CWC’s Comments Support DOL’s Proposal To De-Codify Old FLSA Guidance

The Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC), our affiliated nonprofit membership association, has submitted comments to the Labor Department supporting its July 2 proposal to remove nine Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) policy statements and interpretive rules from the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). We expect it won’t be long before DOL moves to finalize its proposal. Specifically, we support DOL’s...

DOL Won’t Request Liquidated Damages Under the FLSA Before Filing a Lawsuit

The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has returned to its policy of not seeking liquidated damages in pre-litigation settlements of Fair Labor Standards Act claims. Under the FLSA, liquidated damages may effectively double the amount due to non-exempt employees for violations such as worker misclassification or off-the-clock work. Recent Democratic administrations sought liquidated damages, in addition to back pay, at...

DOL Proposes Rescinding Obama-Era Rule That Narrowed FLSA Exemption for Companion Care Workers

The Department of Labor has proposed rolling back Obama-era changes to Fair Labor Standards Act regulations on companionship services. When domestic workers were brought under FLSA protections, Congress carved out an exemption for companionship care — defined as providing fellowship, care, and protection to seniors and individuals with disabilities.  The 2013 rule narrowed the exemption by limiting it to workers...