Even just a few years ago, the concept of using artificial intelligence (AI) in everyday life was a novel, if somewhat intimidating, concept. But from Google’s AI overview to Microsoft’s Copilot, many of us use AI daily to...more
4/17/2025
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Hiring & Firing ,
New Legislation ,
Proposed Legislation ,
State Labor Laws ,
Technology
Federal layoffs have been a focal point of President Trump’s administration, drawing both strong support and opposition. On March 15, Trump issued an executive order directing seven federal agencies to make workforce cuts....more
This week President Donald Trump nominated attorney Jonathan Berry to be the next solicitor of the Department of Labor (DOL). Berry worked in the department during the first Trump administration, and he was the sole author of...more
4/4/2025
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Reform ,
Over-Time ,
Trump Administration ,
Wage and Hour
The federal Worker Adjustment Retraining Notification Act (the WARN Act), generally requires that employers give workers 60 days’ written notice of any plant closings or mass layoffs. If employers do not comply with this...more
1/8/2025
/ Back Pay ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Compliance ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Layoffs ,
Notice Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
Unions ,
WARN Act
Did you know that you can request files from OSHA? Under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), employers, employees, and third parties have the right to request documents from OSHA’s inspection files. These records provide...more
1/8/2025
/ Appeals ,
Compliance ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Document Requests ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FOIA ,
Inspection Rights ,
OSHA ,
Public Records ,
Third-Party ,
Workplace Safety
With Thanksgiving right around the corner, now is the perfect time to reflect on things for which we have to be thankful. In the ever-evolving world of labor and employment law, there have been several significant...more
11/27/2024
/ Chevron Deference ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Government Agencies ,
Minimum Salary ,
NLRB ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Threshold Requirements ,
Tip Credit ,
Tipped Employees ,
Unions
By now, everyone has heard about the Texas court putting the kibosh on the new salary exempt thresholds. In other exemption classification news, the United States Supreme Court is set to issue an opinion in early 2025...more
11/20/2024
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Evidentiary Standards ,
Exemptions ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Minimum Salary ,
Misclassification ,
Over-Time ,
Threshold Requirements ,
Wage and Hour
The landscape of employment is undergoing a seismic shift as employers increasingly integrate technology, particularly artificial intelligence (AI), into workplace practices. AI workplace uses include a variety of...more
What about those salary thresholds for white-collar employees? Although they have been challenged, they are alive and kicking. Last week, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed that the Department...more
How the FLSA “tip credit” is applied has been pushed and pulled numerous times over the last two decades. In the latest volley, the Fifth Circuit entered an order on August 23, 2024, vacating the Department of Labor’s 2021...more
8/29/2024
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Final Rules ,
Labor Reform ,
Labor Regulations ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Minimum Wage ,
Rate of Pay ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
State and Local Government ,
Tax Credits ,
Tipped Employees ,
Tips ,
Wage and Hour
As technology continues to evolve, so do the dynamics of labor and employment. The Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2024-1 (FAB 2024-1). FAB...more
5/24/2024
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Automated Systems ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Labor Reform ,
Labor Regulations ,
New Guidance ,
Technology ,
Wage & Hour Division (WHD) ,
Wage and Hour
On Tuesday, April 23, the United States Department of Labor issued its anticipated Final Rule on the Fair Labor Standards Act salary requirements for overtime exemption.
The Final Rule, which will likely face legal...more
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has published a final rule amending a regulation regarding the right to designate a representative to accompany OSHA inspectors during a workplace inspection. Why do we...more
It is every employer’s nightmare: You find out that employees (or former employees) are claiming that they were not paid properly and are due overtime for the last two or three years. This primarily arises because you...more
On January 30, 2024, the Biden administration proposed a rule (the Salary Rule) that would amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to “prohibit contractors and subcontractors from seeking and considering information...more
2/9/2024
/ Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Minimum Salary ,
New Rules ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulatory Mandates ,
Vaccinations
Someone who works in the home of their employer as a nanny or in another domestic service role is exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) wage requirements, right? Not according to Blanco v. Samuel, a recent 11th...more
Remember the 2021 Independent Contractor Rule? Well, forget it or at least most of it. Last week, the DOL published a new final rule for independent contractor status under the Fair Labor Standards Act (the New Rule). The New...more
2023 has brought many updates and changes to the legal landscape. Our blog posts have covered many of them, but you may not remember (or care to remember) them. Before moving on to 2024, let’s take a moment to review our top...more
12/29/2023
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Exemptions ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Healthcare ,
Income Taxes ,
Over-Time ,
Paid Leave ,
Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act (“PUMP Act”) ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Vaccinations
Tips to Change the Mental Health Culture in Your Workforce -
Let’s face it—while the stigma about mental health issues has gotten better, much work is still needed. It is up to all of us to help improve the dialogue and tone...more
Last week, on the 50th anniversary of the Rehabilitation Act — which prohibits disability discrimination by federal contractors and other programs receiving federal funds — the EEOC and Department of Labor issued a resource...more
10/5/2023
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Disabilities ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Federal Contractors ,
New Guidance ,
OFCCP ,
Rehabilitation Act ,
Subcontractors
Recently, the EEOC announced its top priorities for the coming years in its Strategic Plan for 2022-2026. We hit the highlights of the goals and plans for implementation below so that you can start preparing for the upcoming...more
Last week, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the United States Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (DOL) issued a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that announced they are partnering for the...more
For many, this has been a summer of strikes. Beyond the high-profile, ongoing strike of Hollywood writers and actors, union actions have secured outcomes like substantial pay increases for UPS drivers and commercial air...more
The DOL issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing, among other things, to increase the salary threshold for white-collar overtime exemptions. You may recall that there was a lot of discussion about this back in 2016...more
9/7/2023
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Over-Time ,
Proposed Rules ,
White-Collar Exemptions
Recently the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a final rule that provides, among many other things (the rule is more than 700 pages long), (1) an update to the formula DOL uses to set “prevailing wages” under the...more
8/21/2023
/ Construction Industry ,
Construction Project ,
Davis-Bacon Act ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Enforcement ,
Federal Contractors ,
Final Rules ,
Fringe Benefits ,
Prevailing Wages ,
Public Works ,
Retaliation ,
Subcontractors