The picture is becoming increasingly clear as to the depth and breadth of the pro-worker thrust of the US Department of Labor in the Biden administration. Earlier this week, the Wage and Hour Division issued a proposed rulemaking that would scale back the circumstances under which an employer may pay a lower minimum wage to…
Read More »Republicans have introduced a counter-measure to the joint employer expansion contained in the PRO Act, which as we’ve reported previously, has already passed the House. Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS) and Representative James Comer (R-KY) introduced the Save Local Business Act, which seeks to amend the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and Fair Labor Standards Act…
Read More »The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) officially rescinded the Trump-era independent contractor rule, which gave employers more leeway in classifying gig workers as independent contractors rather than employees. Announcing the decision, Labor Secretary Marty Walsh categorized the decision as helping to “preserve essential worker rights and stop the erosion of worker protections that would have…
Read More »It’s no surprise, but becoming more apparent with each day that the positions taken by the Department of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board under President Biden will be more closely aligned with the anti-business posture adopted under the Obama administration than the free-market positions espoused under President Trump. As a glaring case in…
Read More »Looking closer at the final COVID relief legislation, efforts by progressive democrats to incorporate the provisions of the Protecting the Right To Organize Act (PRO Act) in the American Rescue Plan Act were ultimately unsuccessful however, the legislation is not dead by any stretch. To the contrary, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) announced that…
Read More »Call it the “Final Rule” that isn’t, as the Department of Labor has now delayed the implementation of its Final Rule on tip pooling under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The Tip Regulations Final Rule was just finalized in late December and was set to become effective on March 1, 2021. However, in one…
Read More »Last week, the Department of Labor (DOL) announced that it had ended the employer self-reporting wage and hour program that was implemented by the Trump administration. The Payroll Audit Independent Determination program (PAID), which was launched in 2018, allowed employers to self-report potential wage and hour violations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and…
Read More »The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has issued its long-awaited Final Rule addressing who may share tips under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the circumstances under which employers may use a tip credit. It will become effective on March 1, 2021, 60 days after publication in the Federal Register. The Final Rule implements a 2018 amendment…
Read More »One week ago, the White House budget office wrapped up its review of a rule that would make more workers qualify as “independent contractors” under federal law. The completion of the OMB review generally signals that the final rule will be published soon in the Federal Register. The proposed version of the rule would create…
Read More »Winning exemption from Pennsylvania overtime requirements recently became that much more difficult when the Pennsylvania Department of Labor (PDOL) published its latest guidance. Effective October 3, 2020, the new guidance increases the minimum weekly salary threshold to be exempt under the Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act (PMWA) white-collar exemption to $684 per week (the same as…
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