DOL Withdraws Remaining Guidance Supporting The 80/20 Tip Rule

The U.S. Labor Department has withdrawn three longstanding opinion letters that limited the duties that tipped employees may perform while their employers take a tip credit under the Fair Labor Standards Act. This action brings DOL’s older tip-credit guidance into line with its current interpretation of the FLSA. In a Field Assistance Bulletin issued October 19, DOL states that the...

DOL Drops Proposal To Remove Certain FLSA Interpretive Guidance From Regulatory Code

DOL has withdrawn its 2025 proposal to remove some FLSA interpretive rules and policy statements from the Code of Federal Regulations, leaving the status quo in place and employers’ substantive FLSA obligations unchanged. The Wage and Hour Division’s proposal would have relocated some Fair Labor Standards Act interpretive rules and policy statements from the CFR to subregulatory guidance. The proposal...

DOL Clarifies That Mid-Day Home-To-Office Commuting Is Non-Compensable

A new Department of Labor opinion letter gives employers more flexibility to let non-exempt employees split a workday between home and the office without automatically having to pay for the employees’ ordinary mid-day commute time. Opinion Letter FLSA2026-9, issued July 22 by the Wage and Hour Division, concluded that mid-day home-to-office or office-to-home travel generally is not compensable when it...

Worker Classification And Joint Employment Highlight Wage And Hour Division Regulatory Agenda

The new regulatory agenda from the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division includes rulemakings addressing independent contractor classification and joint employer liability. The agenda also projects final action on a proposal to remove various wage-and-hour policy statements and interpretations from the Code of Federal Regulations. Other initiatives address tipped employees, child labor, domestic service workers, and the rescission of the...

CWC Urges DOL To Adopt Clear Joint Employer Standard

The Center for Workplace Compliance filed comments with the Labor Department supporting the Wage and Hour Division’s proposed joint employer rule under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act. CWC, our affiliated nonprofit membership association, urged DOL to adopt a predictable standard grounded in an entity’s actual role in the...

DOL Says Extra Hourly Shifts May Not Defeat Exempt Status

An exempt employee does not lose exempt status simply by performing additional hourly work in a separate, non-exempt role, according to a recent Labor Department opinion letter. The exemption still may apply under the Fair Labor Standards Act if the employee’s primary duty is exempt work and the employee continues to satisfy the salary basis and salary level requirements, FLSA2026-5...

Third Circuit Says FLSA Does Not Reach “Overtime Gap Time” Claims

Workers cannot use the Fair Labor Standards Act to recover unpaid straight-time from an overtime week, a federal appeals court has ruled. Such “overtime gap time” refers to straight-time hours in a week with overtime — for example, where an employee who is scheduled to work less than 40 hours actually works more than 40 hours but is not paid...

DOL Formally Restores Pre-2024 Overtime Rules Following Court Vacatur

The Department of Labor has issued a technical amendment removing the 2024 revisions to the white-collar overtime regulations. It restores the salary thresholds adopted in 2019, including the weekly $684 salary level for exemption as an executive, administrative, or professional employee and the annual $107,432 threshold for highly compensated employees. The amendment implements federal court decisions vacating the Biden-era rule and follows DOL’s recent dismissal of pending appeals challenging those rulings.   The technical amendment does not change current compliance obligations but simply aligns the regulatory text with court rulings that...

DOL Proposes Clearer, More Balanced Joint Employer Test

A proposed joint employer rule from the U.S. Department of Labor would clarify the standard for joint employer liability under federal wage and hour laws. The proposal would apply to the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act.   The proposal resembles an interpretation that DOL adopted in 2020 but rescinded during the Biden Administration.   Under the proposed rule’s four-factor test, there is a substantial likelihood of joint...