AGG Talks: Healthcare Insights Podcast - Episode 3: The Future of Agency Deference in Healthcare Regulation
Consumer Finance Monitor Podcast Episode: Supreme Court Hears Two Cases in Which the Plaintiffs Seek to Overturn the Chevron Judicial Deference Framework: Who Will Win and What Does It Mean? Part II
On Jan. 9, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division announced its final rule on Employee or Independent Contractor Classification. The announcement marks the end of a rulemaking process that started...more
It has been well over a year since the U.S. Department of Labor issued its proposed rule entitled “Employee or Independent Contractor Classification under the Fair Labor Standards Act.” The regulation was expressly intended...more
Businesses strive to draw the line correctly on who is an employee versus who is an independent contractor. New regulations issued by the Department of Labor (DOL) in early January promised to help. See, 29 CFR §§795.100. But...more
Employers often ask, “Can this worker be an independent contractor?” The answer is often unclear due to the different tests for employee versus independent contractor status, which vary between federal circuit courts and from...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Much has been written in the past few weeks about a recent federal court decision that invalidated the U.S. Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) joint employment rule. While the immediate reaction of some may be...more
On September 22, 2020, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) released a proposed rule providing a more employer-friendly interpretation of independent contractor status under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The proposed rule...more
On May 19, 2020, the United States Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) implemented a final rule withdrawing partial lists of establishments that it previously interpreted as either having “no retail concept” or...more
In June 2019, a unanimous Supreme Court in Kisor v. Wilkie retained but limited the scope of Auer deference – the court-created doctrine that courts should defer to an agency’s interpretation of its own regulations or other...more
In a recent opinion letter, the United States Department of Labor concluded that workers who use a “virtual marketplace” business – similar to Uber, DoorDash, Instacart, or Rover – are independent contractors and not...more
According to Bloomberg Law’s weekly “Punching In” column (an absolute must-read each week) that published today, some congressional leaders are not too pleased with the Labor Department after it published an opinion letter a...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) issued an opinion letter on April 29, 2019 that provides guidance for gig economy companies on when workers can properly be classified as independent contractors not subject to the minimum wage...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: On April 1, 2019, the U.S. DOL announced a proposed rule to clarify joint employment under the FLSA. The rule would establish a four-factor balancing test for joint employer status....more
On April 1, 2019, the Department of Labor (DOL) announced that it will publish a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to amend its existing regulations regarding joint employment under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)....more
Employers will once again have another source of guidance on wage and hour issues from the U. S. Department of Labor, which last month reinstated the practice of issuing opinion letters. ...more
Last July, we posted on the U.S. Department of Labor’s announcement that it was reviving its practice of publishing opinion letters as guidance on wage and hour issues, which the Obama Administration halted in 2010. After...more
On April 12, 2018, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) issued its first substantive opinion letters since the Bush Administration. Not only do opinion letters clarify the agency’s application of the law, the letters...more
On April 12, 2018, the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced three new wage and hour opinion letters. The DOL only recently resumed issuing opinion letters on June 27, 2017, after having...more
On April 12, 2018, the United States Department of Labor issued three opinion letters that provide guidance on how employees without “normal working hours” should be compensated for travel time involving an overnight stay,...more
The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division recently made good on its promise to revive wage and hour Opinion Letters by issuing seventeen (17) such letters addressing whether a variety of occupations are exempt from...more
Déjà Vu All Over Again? It is perhaps fitting that last Friday was Groundhog Day, as this week we relived the same government funding battle that we went through just a few weeks ago. Thankfully, because the shutdown card has...more
Last year, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division announced its intent to again issue opinion letters in response to wage payment questions posed to the agency by employers and employees. Last month, DOL...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is turning back the clock in a move that it believes will provide clarity for employers who seek to comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). On January 5, 2018, the DOL reinstated 17...more
On January 5, 2018, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) Wage and Hour Division re-issued 17 previously withdrawn DOL Opinion Letters addressing over a dozen topics under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). The DOL originally...more
In late June 2017, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) announced it would be reinstating Opinion Letters issued by its Wage and Hour Division, which was a practice that had ceased back in 2010. This announcement is...more
On January 5, 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) reissued 17 previously withdrawn opinion letters addressing a wide variety of topics under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Such letters respond to specific questions...more