According to new guidance from the U.S. Department of Labor, workers who refused jobs that they viewed as unsafe for COVID-19 reasons may now be eligible to collect unemployment benefits. The DOL published this guidance on February 25 in keeping with President Biden’s promise to provide unemployment benefits to workers who chose unemployment over exposure
Originally effective on April 1, 2020, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”) required certain employers with fewer than 500 employees to provide their employees with paid sick leave or expanded family and medical leave for specified reasons related to COVID-19. The FFCRA specified an effective date through December 31, 2020. While many anticipated that
The U.S. Department of Labor, in its continuing effort to simplify its wage and hour rules, has proposed changes to the fluctuating workweek method of paying salaried employees who work varying hours from week to week. Under this method, employers can pay salaried employees a set salary every week, to cover all their straight time
Earlier today, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) announced a proposed rule to update regular rate calculations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). Under the FLSA, employers must pay overtime pay to employees who work more than 40 hours in a week. The overtime pay rate is one and a half times an employee’s
On April 12, 2018, the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the Department of Labor reinstituted its practice of issuing opinion letters, providing the Agency’s interpretation of discrete issues under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The Obama administration had suspended the longstanding practice nearly a decade ago. Two of the opinion letters issued on April
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
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
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
Earlier this spring, the Department of Labor issued final rules drastically changing more than fifty years of interpretation of the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, as amended. These new rules will require detailed disclosure of arrangements that employers have with attorneys and consultants for such things as advice on the content of