Compliance Stuff

WASHINGTON  – The U.S. Department of Labor’s  Wage and Hour Division  today issued a  field assistance bulletin   providing guidance on how to determine employee or independent contractor status when enforcing the  Fair Labor Standards Act .  While the department reviews the 2024 final rule,  Employee or Independent Contractor Classification Under the Fair Labor Standards Act  – which is also being challenged in federal court – agency investigators are directed not to apply the 2024 rule’s analysis in current enforcement matters . Instead, the division will rely on longstanding principles outlined in  Fact Sheet #13  and further informed by the reinstated  Opinion Letter FLSA2019-6 , which addresses classification in the context of virtual marketplace platforms. This approach provides greater clarity for businesses and workers navigating modern work arrangements while legal and regulatory questions are resolved.  This guid...

  Changes help employers, plan officials comply with law, protect workers’ benefits WASHINGTON  – The U.S. Department of Labor announced that its Employee Benefits Security Administration today announced  updates to its Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program  providing employers and other plan officials with more efficient ways to voluntarily correct compliance issues in retirement, health and other employee benefit plans.  The most si gnificant change is a self-correction tool that employers and other plan officials can use to remedy delays in sending participant contributions, such as employee payroll deductions, and participant loan repayments to retirement plans . Employers and other plan officials can also fix mistakes related to participant loans from retirement plans, as provided by the SECURE 2.0 Act.  “The Employee Benefits Security Administration is pleased to provide these improvements to our Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program so that employe...

  Changes align construction industry with general industry standards WASHINGTON -  The U.S. Department of Labor announced that its Occupational Safety and Health Administration has finalized a revision to the personal protective equipment standard for construction. The  final rule explicitly requires the equipment to properly fit  any construction worker who needs it, improving protections from hazardous conditions. “I’ve talked to workers in construction, particularly women, who have spoken of personal protective equipment that didn’t fit or was simply unavailable at the jobsite in their size,” said Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Doug Parker. “PPE must fit properly to work. I’m proud of the broad support from both employers and unions for OSHA’s efforts to make clear that employers must provide the right PPE for each worker who needs it.” The revision to the standard adds specific language requiring that employers provide PPE that properly f...