Authored by Alex Passantino

Tomorrow, the Department of Labor’s long-awaited revisions to the Fair Labor Standards Act’s white collar exemption will be announced. Although there certainly will be additional nuance identified once the entire package has been made available, here are the bottom line changes:

  • The new salary level required for the executive, administrative, and professional exemptions will be $913


Continue Reading They’re Here: White Collar Exemption Revisions Announced

Co-authored by Richard Alfred, Brett Bartlett, and Noah Finkel

The Department of Labor’s release of the new exemption regulations appears imminent. As we have reported in a number of posts, these new rules are expected to nearly double the minimum annual salary level required for employees under the administrative, executive, and professional exemptions (currently $23,660 to between

Continue Reading Plaintiffs’ Bar Sets Sights on New Lawsuits Following DOL Rule Amendments

Authored by Alex Passantino

Last week proved to be a busy one in the world of wage and hour policy. First, WHD sent its final rule package to OMB for review. Then, Secretary of Labor Tom Perez testified before three Congressional committees , where he was asked about many DOL initiatives, including the overtime rule, joint employment, and independent contractors.
Continue Reading House, Senate Seek to Stop Overtime Rules

Authored by Alex Passantino

The President’s FY2017 budget request seeks a nearly $50 million increase in the Wage & Hour Division’s budget.  This more than 20% increase would fund, among other things, 300 additional investigative staff — putting the number of WHD employees over 2,000 for the first time in recent memory.  WHD also seeks around $9 million for
Continue Reading One Last Time: President Seeks Huge Increase to WHD Budget, Investigators

Authored by Alex Passantino

Pinning down a publication date for the DOL’s final revisions to the white-collar exemption rules has proven difficult for anyone outside of the agency’s headquarters. Sometimes, the answer seems to elude even those inside the Frances Perkins Building. From statements from the Solicitor last Fall that the rule would be out in “late 2016
Continue Reading Summertime Blues? Solicitor of Labor Eyes July Publication of Overtime Regs

Co-authored by Brett Bartlett and Kevin Young

As we predicted, the federal Wage and Hour Division has issued another edict that will have far-ranging effects on businesses across the U.S. economy, specifically those sharing employees with related operations or relying on third parties to perform or staff services that their own employees would otherwise carry out. On Wednesday, the
Continue Reading WHD Issues Another Momentous Interpretation, Mapping Joint Employer Status on Horizontal and Vertical Planes

Authored by Alex Passantino

As the calendar year draws to a close, many federal agencies release their statistics for the preceding fiscal year, which ended on September 30. As part of this year-ending wave of information, the Department of Labor’s Wage & Hour Division released its enforcement statistics for FY2015.

Here are the highlights:

  • Back wage collections under all acts


Continue Reading WHD Collects Nearly $247 Million in Back Wages

Co-authored by Richard Alfred and Kevin Young

Wage and hour litigation continues to soar to record highs. So says the federal judiciary’s most recent data on cases filed in federal court over the last federal fiscal year. After hitting an all-time high of 8,160 in FY14, the annual wage and hour caseload spiked another 7.6%to 8,781in

Continue Reading Another Year, Another All-Time High for Wage and Hour Litigation

Co-authored by Adam Vergne and Kevin Young

On Friday, Seyfarth’s Wage & Hour Litigation Practice Group submitted its comments to the Wage and Hour Division’s recent Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. As our readers know, the NPRM signals a potential overhaul to the FLSA’s white-collar exemptions. Seyfarth’s comments offer an insightful response to each aspect of the NPRM. Although not
Continue Reading Seyfarth Submits Comments in Response to Proposed Overtime Rules