As we discussed here, on Thursday, March 7, 2019, the Wage and Hour Division of the United States Department of Labor publicly released notice that it was proposing a change to the rules establishing the standards that needed to be met for persons in certain “white collar” positions to be exempt from the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act. While through the press release, “the public” knows what is being proposed, the federal Administrative Procedures Act requires that notice of proposed rule-making be published in the Federal Register. The APA, specifically 5 USC § 553(c), states that after notice of proposed rule-making is published, “interested persons” are to be given the opportunity to participate in the process through the submission of written materials.
The Friday, March 22, 2019, issue of the Federal Register — 84 FR 10900 contains the WHD/DOL’s official notice of proposed rule and request for comments on “Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales and Computer Employees.”
Comments may be submitted on or before May 21, 2019.