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:
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 8,781—in
Continue Reading Another Year, Another All-Time High for Wage and Hour Litigation
Co-authored by Brett C. Bartlett, Katherine M. Smallwood, and Michael DuMond & Bo Shippen of Economists Incorporated
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage & Hour Division recently announced its proposal to amend 29 C.F.R. Part 541, containing the “white collar” exemption for executive, administrative, and professional employees. The Division’s proposal would dramatically increase the salary levels required for
Continue Reading How Proxy Data and Pilot Studies Can Help Employers Prepare for the DOL’s New Proposed Overtime Rules
Authored by Alex Passantino
As we blogged last year, the President’s Executive Order establishing a minimum wage for certain federal contractor employees requires that the minimum wage be adjusted on an annual basis. In the September 16, 2015 Federal Register, the Department of Labor’s Wage & Hour Division will announce that the wage rate will increase from $10.10 per
Continue Reading Federal Contractor Minimum Wage to Increase
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
Co-authored by Louisa Johnson and Alex Passantino
As you have no doubt heard, the Department of Labor’s Wage & Hour Division (“WHD”) has proposed revisions to the regulations defining which of your white-collar employees qualify as exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime pay and minimum wage requirements. In addition to proposing that the minimum salary level for exemption
Continue Reading How Contemplated Changes to the White-Collar Exemptions’ Duties Tests Could Reward Your Poor Performers…and What You Can Do in Response
Co-authored by Robert S. Whitman and Adam J. Smiley
Last week, this blog reported on the guidance from the Department of Labor (DOL) regarding the classification of independent contractors under the FLSA. The 15-page Administrator’s Interpretation (AI) seeks to restrict the use of independent contractors by reading the FLSA’s definition of “employ” as broadly as possible and by tightening the
Continue Reading DOL Independent Contractor Guidance Targets “On-Demand” Companies
Co-authored by Richard Alfred, Alex Passantino, Patrick Bannon, and Adam Smiley
Today, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) issued its first Administrator’s Interpretation (AI) on the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in more than a year. As the Administrator, Dr. David Weil, had forecast in a speech last month, today’s AI discusses the
Continue Reading DOL Issues Guidance On Independent Contractor Classification Interpreting FLSA Broadly to Cover Most Workers as Employees