The Fifth Circuit granted the government’s request for additional time to file its final reply brief in the pending appeal of a nationwide injunction issued by a Texas District Court Judge, blocking the DOL’s controversial overtime rule raising the required salary level for the white collar exemptions. The final reply brief will not be filed … Continue Reading
The government has asked for another delay in submitting its final brief to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals regarding the DOL’s Final overtime rule, which raised the salary level for the white collar exemptions from $23,660 to $47,476. The final reply brief was scheduled to be filed on May 1, 2017, after two earlier … Continue Reading
The appeal regarding the validity of the federal overtime rule will not be fully briefed until May 1, 2017, according to an order issued by the Fifth Circuit on February 22, 2017, granting an unopposed request by the Department of Justice for an extension. When the Department of Labor first appealed the nationwide injunction issued … Continue Reading
Before the election the Department of Labor asked the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to expedite its appeal regarding the validity of the DOL’s Final Rule, which increased the salary level for the white collar exemptions. Earlier this week, however, following the inauguration of President Trump, the Department of Labor made the opposite request, asking … Continue Reading
Earlier today, the Department of Labor filed an unopposed motion to extend the deadline for its next submission in support of its appeal of the salary basis rule injunction. The motion for extension requested until March 2, 2017 to submit the Department’s reply brief to the Fifth Circuit, and expressly stated that the extra time … Continue Reading
Sen. Bernie Sanders, along with twenty-five other members of Congress, have filed an amicus brief in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals urging the Court to reverse the injunction issued by a Texas federal judge enjoining enforcement of the Department of Labor’s recent increase to the salary basis threshold for the white collar exemptions under … Continue Reading
On December 2, one day after filing its appeal of the preliminary injunction blocking its new salary basis regulations, the DOL filed a request for expedited briefing and oral argument in the appeal. The DOL has requested that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals set an expedited schedule whereby briefing would be complete on February … Continue Reading
Jackson Lewis Principal Eric Magnus contributed to this post. The U.S. Department of Labor regulations raising the required salary level for the white collar exemptions (executive, administrative, and professional) under the Fair Labor Standards Act are scheduled to become effective December 1, 2016. Since the results of Tuesday’s election, some employers are considering whether to … Continue Reading
The U.S. House of Representatives yesterday voted 246 to 177, largely along party lines, in favor of legislation which would delay the rule’s effective date by six months, from December 1, 2016, to June 1, 2017. Prior to the anticipated late night vote on the bill in the House, Senator James Lankford (R-Okla.) introduced the legislation … Continue Reading
Following a pair of lawsuits aimed at blocking the Labor Department’s “white collar” overtime rule, House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections Chair Tim Walberg (R-Michigan) introduced legislation which would delay the rule’s effective date by six months, from December 1, 2016, to June 1, 2017. The proposed legislation, entitled The Regulatory Relief for Small Businesses, Schools, and … Continue Reading
The anticipated legal challenges to the Department of Labor’s Final Rule regarding the salary level for white collar exempt employees were lodged yesterday through two separate lawsuits filed in the Eastern District of Texas. State of Nevada et al v. United States Department of Labor et al, E.D. Texas 16-CV-731; Plano Chamber of Commerce et … Continue Reading
As discussed in detail here, the Senate has approved the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (“PROMESA”). Among other provisions, PROMESA stays applicability of the new salary basis rule to Puerto Rico until the Comptroller General of the United States further analyzes the economic impact of such application, and the Secretary of Labor (taking the … Continue Reading
News outlets are reporting that the new salary basis rule will take effect on December 1, 2016, and require a salary of $47,476 per year ($913/week). Reports also indicate that the new rule will require an update of the salary threshold every three years, as opposed to annual increases. This effective date provides employers a … Continue Reading
The Department of Labor is expected to issue its long-awaited Final Rule regarding the white collar exemptions on Wednesday, at an event in Ohio attended by Vice President Biden and Secretary Perez, Politico reports. It is expected the Final Rule will increase the salary level requirement for white collar exemptions to approximately $47,000, and provide … Continue Reading
Multiple sources are reporting that the DOL’s Final Rule regarding the exempt status salary basis threshold will set the minimum salary at approximately $47,000 per annum, rather than the previously-reported $50,440. While the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is still reviewing the proposed rule, the rule may clear OMB within the next few weeks, … Continue Reading
Multiple sources have reported that yesterday the USDOL sent the proposed final overtime rule to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for its mandatory review. If OMB’s review is completed on an expedited basis, DOL could disseminate the proposed final rule to the public by mid-April, with an effective date potentially as early as … Continue Reading
Since the United States Department of Labor announced its intention, in response to the President’s directive, to more than double the salary basis necessary to qualify for the “white collar” exemptions from overtime, the business community has swung into action. Employers and associations have both been lobbying for a more modest increase to the minimum … Continue Reading
Employers anxiously await the final regulations codifying the upcoming changes to the FLSA white collar exemptions. Those who seek to “read the tea leaves” regarding the rulemaking process based on the comments submitted by the public at large have a lot of work to do, as the Department announced it received in excess of 247,000 … Continue Reading
In a letter to Congress, Wage-and-Hour Administrator David Weil yesterday stated that the Department would not extend the 60-day comment period for providing feedback regarding the Department’s proposed rule, indicating that “a comment period of this length . . . will meet the goal . . . of ensuring Department has level of insight from … Continue Reading
In prior posts, we have summarized the New York State Department of Labor’s most recent rulemaking processes, comprised of two separate wage boards. The first, in 2014, addressed the hospitality industry as a whole, while more recently, in 2015, another highly publicized wage board addressed the subset of that industry deemed “fast food.” Employers should … Continue Reading
White House coverage reports that the revamped white collar exemption regulations will be released this week, and will include a salary basis requirement more than double the current federal level. Reports peg the new salary basis requirement at $50,440 per year, or $970/week, with future adjustment linked to the 40th percentile of income. This news … Continue Reading
Compliance with salary basis requirements is one pre-requisite for exempt status under the FLSA’s “white collar” exemptions. A recent decision issued by the Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit analyzed this requirement and upheld the employer’s salary basis of payment, rejecting the Plaintiff’s claim that an isolated deduction from an exempt employee’s salary destroys … Continue Reading
Whether a function of recent legislation or a rule tying the minimum wage to inflation, the minimum wage will increase in more than a dozen states in the new year, as it did last year. These changes impact workers at or near the minimum wage (including, in many cases, tipped workers), and also impact other … Continue Reading
In its new regulatory agenda, the Department of Labor has indicated that its proposed rules remaking the traditional FLSA “white collar” exemptions in response to March’s Presidential directive will not be provided until February, 2015. The employer community eagerly awaits guidance from the Department, particularly given the uncertainty and litigation which followed in the wake … Continue Reading
