Compliance Stuff

On February 14, 2025, the Fifth Circuit denied the appellants’ petition for rehearing  en banc  in  Mayfield v. United States Dep’t of Labor— a  September 2024 decision  holding that the U.S. Department of Labor’s authority to “define” and “delimit” the terms of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s executive, administrative, and professional (EAP) exemptions includes the power to set a minimum salary for exemption. The dispute in  Mayfield  dates back to 2019, when the DOL issued a  final rule  raising the minimum salary required to qualify for most EAP exemptions from $455 per week to $684 per week.  Mayfield, a small business owner, challenged the rule, arguing that the DOL lacks, and has always lacked, the authority to define the EAP exemptions in terms of salary level (as opposed to by job duties)—an argument that has been embraced repeatedly by the Texas federal district courts (see  here  and  here ).  The district co...

  The Department of Labor filed its appeal to the Ninth Circuit contesting an order that would require the DOL (OFCCP) contractors' 2016-2020 2020 Type 2 Consolidated EEO-1 Reports---reports that require specific employers pay data, covering wages and hours.   The DOL states that the court had not given an “ordinary or common” meaning to the term “commercial,” as required by the Ninth Circuit precedent.   It may be summer of 2024, at the earliest, before a ruling is issued.   Source:  Ogletree Deakins , reported on February 27, 2024