DOL Proposes Rollback of Biden-Era Worker Classification Rule

DOL’s Wage and Hour Division has issued a proposed rule for assessing whether a worker is an employee or independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act. If finalized, the rule would largely revive a framework from the first Trump administration and rescind the Biden...

DOL Opinion Letter Underscores Compliance Risks When Using Incentive-Based Bonus Plans

A recent Wage and Hour opinion letter reaffirms that employers must include performance-based bonuses awarded under predetermined criteria in the regular rate when calculating overtime. DOL concluded that bonus payments were nondiscretionary and therefore part of the regular rate because the employer had “abandoned” its discretion by automatically awarding the bonus to drivers who met objective performance and safety standards. The...

House Rejects Training Time Bill, Signaling Slim Odds For FLSA Reforms

The House of Representatives rejected a bill that would have allowed employers to offer hourly employees specified voluntary training programs on a non-compensable basis. Although specific types of training time may be non-compensable, the Labor Department applies those exceptions narrowly. The House voted down H.R. 2262, a proposal to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act, even though supporters argued that the...

House Committee To Consider Three Wage And Hour Reforms

The House Committee on Education and the Workforce on November 20 will debate three wage and hour bills that seek to make important changes to federal wage and hour law: H.R. 2870, the Working Families Flexibility Act, would legalize employer-employee agreements for compensatory time off, subject to strict safeguards; H.R. 2312, the Tipped Employee Protection Act, would broaden the definition...

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...