The Employee Benefits Security Administration of the Department of Labor has just released for public consideration, and published for comment, a significant new interpretation of the term “employer” under ERISA. Under the proposal, small businesses and sole proprietors would have more freedom to band together to provide health coverage for employees in what are
Are the changes to the overtime rules going to take effect or not? Ever since a federal court issued an injunction in late 2016 stopping major changes to the federal overtime rules, employers have anxiously been waiting for an answer to that question. Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) turned the tables, and
On March 27, 2017, President Donald Trump signed a resolution that permanently blocked an executive order previously issued by President Obama, which had required federal contractors to disclose labor law violations.
The Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces executive order signed by President Obama in 2014 had been called the “blacklisting” order by those in the
The Office of Management and Budget released President Trump’s “America First” budget blueprint for discretionary spending earlier this morning. Overall, it increases spending on defense, veterans’ health, immigration enforcement and combatting opioid abuse while decreasing civilian discretionary spending. Hardest hit are programs such as the National Endowment for the Arts, the Legal Services
On December 19, the United States Department of Labor issued comprehensive new guidance making it clear that it intends to continue to aggressively pursue employers who misclassify employees as independent contractors. The transmittal message for the new guidance, entitled “Misclassification Affects Everyone,” states the DOL’s position that “The misclassification of employees as independent contractors is
In a much-welcomed eleventh-hour ruling yesterday, the United States District Court in the Eastern Division of Texas issued a preliminary injunction enjoining the United States Department of Labor (“DOL”) from implementing changes to overtime rules under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) (the “Final Rule”). The Final Rule, which nearly doubles the salary threshold for
The U.S. Department of Labor recently released its final rule requiring federal contractors and subcontractors to provide their employees with paid sick leave each year. This rule implements Executive Order 13706, which President Obama signed in September 2015. The rule takes effect on November 29, 2016, though generally it applies only to new contracts that
With the clock counting down toward the December 1, 2016, effective date of the U.S. Department of Labor’s new overtime rules, officials from 21 states have stepped forward to try to stop the DOL in its tracks. In particular, on September 20, 2016, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, backed by 21 state officials from across
By now most employers are (hopefully) aware that the U.S. Department of Labor has significantly changed some of the rules governing exemptions from the overtime pay requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). The revised regulations will go into effect on December 1, 2016, and they will principally do the following: