On April 1, 2019, the DOL issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), relating to whether two or more entities are “joint employers” for purposes of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).  This arrangement becomes significant when determining overtime for an individual who does not work overtime at either employer, but combined, does (and thus, would be owed overtime if it was a single employer).  As important as this is, the rule has not been…

The saga continues!  Businesses required to file an EEO-1 must submit the usual Component 1 data to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) by May 31, 2019. However, whether businesses with 100 or more employees must submit Component 2 pay data has been up in the air since 2016 (you can search my blog for the long convoluted history), when the EEOC first proposed revisions to the yearly report to require employers to report…

On March 29, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).  The proposed rules will clarify for employers what types of compensation must be included when determining an employee’s “regular rate” in order to determine the overtime rate. This is a conversation I have with various employers weekly and will be welcome guidance. Recall, overtime is time and one-half the “regular rate”.…

The U.S. Department of Labor has issued yet another opinion letter sorting out when an employee need not be paid while volunteering.  DOL Opinion Letter FLSA2019-2 was one of three letters issued on March 12, 2019. In this case, an employer inquired whether an employee’s time spent in its optional volunteer program was compensable as “hours worked” under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). In short, this employer tracks employee’s hours volunteering and awards a…

On March 14, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued Opinion Letter FMLA2019-1-A. While most opinion letters do not come a surprise to me, this one I cannot say the same…more like a deer-in-the-headlights type of moment (I knew some of you were wondering what in the heck a deer had to do with the DOL). Indeed, the DOL clarified its position that while an employer may require an employee to use PTO…

On March 14, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued Opinion Letter FLSA2019-1. In this situation, an employer asked whether the FLSA applies when its employees (live-in superintendents and residential janitors) are exempt from state law overtime. The DOL confirmed what I’ve posted about several times: When a federal, state, or local minimum wage or overtime law differs from the FLSA, the employer must comply with both laws and meet the standard of…

On April 3, 2019, the EEOC represented to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that it would require Component 2 data (hours and pay by race, ethnicity and sex) for the EEO-1 report by September 30, 2019.  This is in addition to the May 31, 2019 deadline for the EEO-1 Component 1 data (the regular data that was not contested in litigation recently). The EEOC has not made any formal public announcement,…