Publications
Take a Fresh Look at the FLSA
This past summer yielded a slew of activity on the wage and hour front, including newly proposed regulations issued by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) that will, if finalized, severely restrict the scope of the overtime exemptions for so-called white-collar workers under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). There was also a Second Circuit ruling addressing the exempt status of lawyers hired on a temporary basis to perform document reviews; another significant Second Circuit opinion interpreting the FLSA, this time in regard to the status of unpaid interns; and a new and clear warning from the head of the DOL’s Wage and Hour division that independent contractor classifications will be closely scrutinized by a watchful and skeptical eye. Management-side attorneys take note.
The DOL’s Proposed Update to the FLSA’s Overtime Regulations.
On June 30, 2015, the DOL issued a set of proposed regulations designed to dramatically alter, and narrow, the most commonly invoked exemptions to the FLSA’s minimum wage and overtime requirements for “white-collar” employees. It is estimated that, if implemented in the proposed form, some five million heretofore exempt workers would suddenly become eligible for overtime pay.
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