July 15, 2025
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Category: Disability, Accommodations, and Leaves

DOL Withdraws Biden-Era Proposal to End Subminimum Wage Program for Disabled Workers

The Department of Labor announced July 7 that it is withdrawing a proposed rule from the Biden Administration to end a program through which it issues certificates allowing employers to pay subminimum wages to workers with disabilities in settings sometimes called sheltered workshops. The Biden-era DOL said the program is no longer necessary to motivate employers to hire people with significant disabilities because...
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July 14, 2025
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Category: Wage and Hour

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...
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July 09, 2025
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Category: Wage and Hour

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...
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July 09, 2025
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Category: Wage and Hour

DOL Proposes Removing Some FLSA Policy Statements and Interpretive Rules From Regulatory Code

The Department of Labor is proposing to move certain interpretive rules and policy statements related to the Fair Labor Standards Act from the Code of Federal Regulations to the Wage and Hour Division’s Field Operations Handbook. DOL says these provisions were never subject to notice-and-comment rulemaking.   The most significant provisions relate to the FLSA’s motor carrier exemption. Other impacted provisions relate to seafarers and...
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June 10, 2025
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Category: Agency Enforcement

Trump Seeks Significant Cuts to FY26 Budget of Workplace Regulators

President Trump’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2026 would eliminate the Labor Department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) and substantially cut funding for most agencies that regulate the workforce. The President submitted his budget request to Congress May 30. DOL’s Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (VETS) would assume OFCCP’s enforcement of the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA,...
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December 11, 2024
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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...
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December 05, 2024
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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...
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December 02, 2024
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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...
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November 21, 2024
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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...
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November 20, 2024
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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...
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