March 19, 2025
|
Category: Compensation

Trump Revokes Biden’s Federal Contractor Minimum Wage

A new executive order from President Trump on March 14 revoked the increase to the federal contractor minimum wage implemented by the Biden Administration. Trump’s order, entitled “Additional Rescissions Of Harmful Executive Orders And Actions,” revokes Biden’s E.O. 14026, which increased the minimum wage for covered federal contractors to $15 an hour beginning in 2022 with annual adjustments for inflation. The federal...
Read More
February 25, 2025
|
Category: Disability, Accommodations, and Leaves

Biden’s Wage and Hour Division Publishes Guidance in Final Days

In the final days of the Biden Administration, DOL’s Wage and Hour Division issued two opinion letters. WHD opinion letters are not binding on the courts, but employers may rely on them. DOL Opinion Letter FMLA 2025-01-A — FMLA interplay with state and local paid leave programs DOL Opinion Letter FMLA 2025-01-A states that an employer cannot require an employee who...
Read More
February 11, 2025
|
Category: Executive Order

Fifth Circuit Rules Biden’s Federal Contractor Minimum Wage Increase Lawful

A federal appeals court has upheld former President Biden’s Executive Order 14026 establishing a $15.00 federal contractor hourly minimum wage and indexing it to inflation. In Texas v. Trump, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit found the increase to be within the President’s authority under the Procurement Act. The Fifth Circuit concluded that raising the minimum wage to...
Read More
January 22, 2025
|
Category: CP Featured

Supreme Court Rejects Higher Evidentiary Standard for Proving FLSA Exemptions

The U.S. Supreme Court last week made it easier for employers to defend their decisions to apply the FLSA’s overtime and minimum wage exemptions. In E.M.D. Sales, Inc. v. Carrera, it unanimously rejected a lower court’s ruling that applied a tougher standard for employers to prove FLSA exemptions. In the January 15 ruling, the Justices held that an employer must...
Read More
December 11, 2024
|
Category: FLSA

Should Expense Reimbursements Be Included When Calculating Overtime? A New Opinion Letter Explains

In the Biden Administration’s first opinion letter interpreting the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Wage and Hour Division has discussed the effect of expense reimbursements on an employee’s regular pay rate for the employee’s overtime premium. An oil and gas industry employer that reimburses its pipeline inspectors $25 per day for the use of their personal mobile phones, cameras, and computers...
Read More
December 05, 2024
|
Category: Disability, Accommodations, and Leaves

DOL Proposes Phasing Out Subminimum Wages for People With Disabilities

DOL’s Wage and Hour Division published a proposed rule December 4 that would phase out the Section 14(c) certificate program that allows employers to pay less than the minimum wage to individuals with disabilities. If the proposed rule were adopted in its current form, applications sent on or after the rule’s effective date would be ignored, and existing certificates would...
Read More
December 02, 2024
|
Category: Executive Order

Ninth Circuit Rules Federal Contractor Minimum Wage Increase Exceeded Biden’s Authority

President Biden exceeded his authority by issuing Executive Order 14026 raising the federal contractor minimum wage to $15 per hour, a federal appeals court ruled November 5 in Nebraska v. Su. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit also held that the U.S. Department of Labor acted arbitrarily and capriciously when it published implementing regulations. The Ninth Circuit...
Read More
November 21, 2024
|
Category: DOL

DOL’s Increase to Minimum Salary Threshold for White-Collar Overtime Exemption Blocked Nationwide

A federal court has vacated a Labor Department rule that increased the minimum salary level for the “white-collar” overtime exemption. Therefore, the prior minimum salary threshold of $684 weekly is back in effect. The opinion came November 15 by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in Texas v. U.S. Dep’t of Labor. The Biden Administration’s final...
Read More
November 20, 2024
|
Category: Agency Enforcement

DOL Reports Recovery of Back Wages for FLSA Violations Decreased in FY 2024

DOL’s recovery of back wages for violations under the Fair Labor Standards Act has dropped to its lowest level in a decade, according to limited enforcement data reported by the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division. The amount of back wages collected by WHD decreased by 4% in fiscal year 2024 compared with the amount collected in FY 2023. In...
Read More
November 11, 2024
|
Category: Agency Enforcement

DOL Wage and Hour Division Again Reports Increase in FMLA Violations

The number of Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) cases in which the Department of Labor found a violation increased in fiscal year 2024—and for a second consecutive year—after having declined annually over the previous decade, according to data recently released by DOL’s Wage and Hour Division. This indicates that more employees are now electing to file complaints with WHD rather...
Read More

Categories

Talk with an EASI Consultant.

Get in Touch