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
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
Seyfarth Synopsis: The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued a standard interpretation cautioning employers on the use of headphones to listen to music on a construction site....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
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
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently rejected the U.S. Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) tip-credit guidance, commonly known as the “80/20 rule,” as well as its guidance on tasks unrelated to a tipped occupation. The...more
Presidential administration transitions almost always result in policy and enforcement initiative changes at the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). This year appears to be no different, but it is not yet clear how some recent...more
The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that it will again issue opinion letters to assist employers and employees in interpreting laws like the FMLA and Fair Labor Standards Act. The DOL has even established a new...more
Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Labor dropped a bit of a bombshell when it announced the immediate withdrawal of two informal guidance letters issued back when President Obama governed the executive branch. The 2015...more
Wednesday the DOL announced that it was withdrawing two critical pieces of “guidance” issued under the Obama administration. The first piece addressed the DOL’s rather narrow view of who is an independent contractor (S&H...more
A new world has just taken hold in Washington, DC, and with it, we expect OSHA to be much more open to employers’ views how regulatory programs should apply in their workplaces. This opens the door to regulatory strategies...more
On January 1, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) new recordkeeping and reporting rule took effect. The main impact of this rule requires employers to electronically file annual injury and...more
On August 4, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor (“U.S. DOL”) and the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry (“PA DOL”) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to coordinate efforts, by sharing information and...more
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently issued new Enforcement Guidance on Retaliation and Related Issues, marking the first time that the EEOC has issued a formal resource document on retaliation since...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued an Administrator’s Interpretation on joint employment under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA)....more
On January 20, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued an Administrator Interpretation regarding what arrangements will constitute joint employment under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Under the FLSA, when an...more
In a review of an Occupational Safety & Health Review Commission (OSHRC) decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruled this week to vacate a $490,000 penalty for failure to employ machine guards to prevent...more
In Berman v. Neo@Ogilvy LLC, a three-judge panel of the Second Circuit reversed and remanded a decision of the SDNY, which had dismissed a claim for retaliation by a former employee on the basis that Dodd-Frank’s...more
As we forecast in our August 2015 post, “The SEC’s Interpretative Guidance on Internal Whistleblowing Under the Dodd-Frank Act,” a federal court of appeals today issued a decision in line with the U.S. Securities and Exchange...more
Last month, the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) issued an Administrator's Interpretation aimed at addressing what it characterizes as the “problematic trend” of employers misclassifying workers as independent contractors...more