The Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor, responsible for enforcing the Fair Labor Standards Act, has announced a new collaboration with the American Bar Association. Under this initiative, FLSA or Family and Medical Leave Act complainants who are informed that the Division is declining to pursue their complaint are provided a toll-free number to contact a newly created, ABA-sanctioned Attorney Referral System.  The Division has also pledged to provide prompt, relevant information and documents on the referred case to complainants and the referral attorney electing to take the case.  

This aggressive, previously-uncontemplated enforcement technique dovetails with the recent announcement that Leon Rodriguez, the current Chief of Staff of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and a former state and federal prosecutor, is President Obama’s new Wage Hour Administrator Designate. The Wage and Hour Administrator is the President’s top wage-and-hour enforcement official.