Wage and Hour Archives - Employment Advisory Services, Inc.

April 16, 2025

Category: Congress

House Panel Advances Bills To Amend FLSA To Encourage Job-Related Training, Child Care Services

The House Committee on Education and the Workforce has advanced two bills to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). These bills would incentivize employers to offer voluntary job-related training and to provide overtime-eligible employees with child and dependent care benefits. H.R. 2262 would exclude time spent in after-hours training programs from hours worked, even if the training programs are job-related....

April 09, 2025

Category: Trump Administration

President Trump Nominates Andrew Rogers as Next Wage and Hour Chief

President Trump has nominated Andrew Rogers to serve as the next Administrator of the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division. Rogers is currently the Acting General Counsel at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Previously, he served as chief counsel to EEOC Acting Chair Andrea Lucas and as a senior advisor at the Wage and Hour Division. Earlier in his career,...

March 24, 2025

Category: FLSA

Another Challenge to Biden Administration Independent Contractor Rule Dismissed

The Biden-era independent contractor rule has withstood yet another challenge, so it remains in effect, although the Trump Administration may eventually revisit this rule. Littman v. U.S. Department of Labor involves two freelance writers who challenged the Labor Department’s 2024 independent contractor rule. The rule applies a six-part economic reality test that makes it more likely that workers will be...

March 19, 2025

Category: Compensation

Trump Revokes Biden’s Federal Contractor Minimum Wage

A new executive order from President Trump on March 14 revoked the increase to the federal contractor minimum wage implemented by the Biden Administration. Trump’s order, entitled “Additional Rescissions Of Harmful Executive Orders And Actions,” revokes Biden’s E.O. 14026, which increased the minimum wage for covered federal contractors to $15 an hour beginning in 2022 with annual adjustments for inflation. The federal...

February 25, 2025

Category: Disability, Accommodations, and Leaves

Biden’s Wage and Hour Division Publishes Guidance in Final Days

In the final days of the Biden Administration, DOL’s Wage and Hour Division issued two opinion letters. WHD opinion letters are not binding on the courts, but employers may rely on them. DOL Opinion Letter FMLA 2025-01-A — FMLA interplay with state and local paid leave programs DOL Opinion Letter FMLA 2025-01-A states that an employer cannot require an employee who...

February 11, 2025

Category: Executive Order

Fifth Circuit Rules Biden’s Federal Contractor Minimum Wage Increase Lawful

A federal appeals court has upheld former President Biden’s Executive Order 14026 establishing a $15.00 federal contractor hourly minimum wage and indexing it to inflation. In Texas v. Trump, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit found the increase to be within the President’s authority under the Procurement Act. The Fifth Circuit concluded that raising the minimum wage to...

January 22, 2025

Category: CP Featured

Supreme Court Rejects Higher Evidentiary Standard for Proving FLSA Exemptions

The U.S. Supreme Court last week made it easier for employers to defend their decisions to apply the FLSA’s overtime and minimum wage exemptions. In E.M.D. Sales, Inc. v. Carrera, it unanimously rejected a lower court’s ruling that applied a tougher standard for employers to prove FLSA exemptions. In the January 15 ruling, the Justices held that an employer must...

December 11, 2024

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...

December 05, 2024

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...

December 02, 2024