An Essential Resource for Employers
In October 2020, Pennsylvania regulations took effect that increased the salary threshold for exempt employees to the federal level, and would have increased the threshold above the federal minimum beginning in October 2021.
However, a recent budget compromise between Democratic Governor Tom Wolf and a Republican-led state legislature has resulted in the regulations’ repeal.…
On June 21, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced that it will propose new regulations limiting the amount of time that tipped employees, like food servers or bartenders, can perform on non-tipped work before they would be owed a full minimum wage from their employer. The public will have until August 23, 2021…
On May 6, 2021, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued a final rule, effective immediately, withdrawing a pro-business independent contractor rule that would have made it easier for businesses to classify workers as independent contractors, rather than as employees who are entitled to minimum wage and overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Earlier…
The United States Department of Labor (DOL) Wage and Hour Division just launched a new initiative called “Essential Workers, Essential Protections” that provides workers with information about the wage and hour laws that apply to them, including instructions on how to contact the DOL with questions or complaints.
In conjunction with this new initiative, the…
In another policy change that is designed to benefit workers and penalize businesses that violate the law, the federal government announced that employers who violate the overtime or minimum wage provisions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) may be liable for both the unpaid wages and an additional equal amount as liquidated damages. …
On Tuesday, the Department of Labor (DOL) announced that it had issued two Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) concerning tipped workers’ compensation. If adopted, the NPRM would delay, for a second time, the effective date of several rules the agency published during the Trump Administration. Though for now the move is merely a delay, it…
On March 2, 2021, the United States Department of Labor (“DOL”) announced that it is officially delaying the effective date of the rule titled “Independent Contractor Status under the Fair Labor Standards Act.” The effective date for the rule has now been delayed 60 days from March 8, 2021, to May 7, 2021.
As we …
On February 19, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) withdrew two FLSA opinion letters, further signaling a return to more employee-friendly policies.
The first, FLSA2019-6, addressed the status of independent contractors for an unnamed virtual marketplace company (VMC) and took a more expansive view of independent contractors than the WHD’s…
On January 26, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) suspended the Final Rule on tipped employees that it had issued on December 22, 2020. The Final Rule would have clarified tip-pooling for employees in the food service and hospitality industry, as well as how the tip credit applied to employees who perform both tipped…
The DOL abruptly ended the Payroll Audit Independent Determination (PAID) program on January 29, 2021. The program, which was adopted during the Trump administration, allowed employers to self-report FLSA violations before a complaint, pay back pay and avoid liquidated damages, penalties or fines. Employees were prohibited from bringing private actions to recover additional damages for…
