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Category: FLSA

DOL Raises White Collar Overtime Threshold by 65%, Leaves Employers Little Time To Comply

The U.S. Department of Labor has issued a final rule revising the white-collar exemptions to the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime rules that will make thousands of additional salaried executive, administrative, and professional employees eligible for overtime pay. The rule will increase the minimum amount that a salaried employee must be paid to be exempt from overtime pay—from the current...
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Category: Disability, Accommodations, and Leaves

Divided EEOC Issues Expansive PWFA Interpretive Regulations, Inviting Legal Challenges

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has issued final regulations interpreting the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. The PWFA, which became law in 2022, codifies the right to request reasonable accommodations for pregnancy-related limitations. The expansive implementing regulations adopted by the EEOC’s Democratic majority, which are similar to the proposed regulations published last August, are almost certain to be challenged in...
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Category: Agency Enforcement

OSHA Finalizes Walkaround Rule Permitting Third Party Presence During Workplace Inspections

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued a final rule that permits employees to authorize a third party—including a labor union representative—to represent them during an OSHA inspection if the OSHA compliance officer believes that the third party’s presence is reasonably necessary for an effective and thorough physical workplace safety inspection. The new rule,...
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Category: FLSA

DOL’s Controversial Independent Contractor Rule Goes Into Effect

The Department of Labor’s new independent contractor rule for worker classification under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) went into effect March 11, 2024, although it is subject to several legal challenges. This latest version of the ever-changing standard lists six non-weighted economic factors to consider when deciding whether a person is an independent contractor or an employee. The new...
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Category: Contingent Workers and Joint Employment

Federal Court Blocks Controversial NLRB Joint Employer Rule, Reinstates Trump-Era Rule

A federal trial court has vacated the controversial new National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) joint employer rule and restored the 2020 version of the rule that made it harder to find that an entity is a joint employer. If the new rule had taken effect as scheduled March 11, 2024, it would have been much easier to find that two...
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Category: Agency Enforcement

Inflation Fuels Higher Civil Penalties for Federal Workplace Law Violations in 2024

To account for inflation, various federal workplace enforcement agencies recently raised the civil penalties they charge. The Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 (the Inflation Adjustment Act) mandates these yearly adjustments. This memo details employment- and immigration-related penalty increases announced by the Department of Labor (DOL), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and the Department of...
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Category: Discrimination and Harassment

EEOC Revises Procedural Regulations To Incorporate Pregnant Workers Fairness Act

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has published an interim final rule (IFR) that revises its procedural and administrative regulations to account for the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), which took effect in June 2023. The IFR essentially applies EEOC’s existing procedural and administrative rules for Title VII and the other laws that EEOC enforces to the PWFA. The...
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Category: Compensation

Biden Administration Proposes Pay Range Disclosure Rule for Federal Contractors

The Federal Acquisition Regulatory (FAR) Council has proposed a new pay transparency rule that would require federal contractors to disclose pay ranges for all open jobs on or in connection with covered federal contracts. Two years after President Biden issued an Executive Order calling for pay transparency in federal contracting, the Biden Administration published its proposal in the Federal Register on January...
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Category: DOL

Labor Department Proposes Major Revisions to “Registered Apprenticeship Program”

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) proposed significant revisions to its Depression-era registered apprenticeship program in a proposed rule published January 17, 2024, in the Federal Register. The proposal would add numerous provisions intended to bolster workforce protections for apprentices and enhance workforce diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA). Critics claim that the proposal would add bureaucracy and discourage participation by employers...
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Category: FLSA

DOL Finalizes Rule Making It Harder To Show Worker Is Independent Contractor

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has finalized a rule that determines whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The new rule will go into effect March 11, 2024. It rescinds regulations issued during the Trump Administration and adopts a controversial six-part economic reality test applied during the Obama Administration. Although...

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