Compliance Stuff

On September 30, 2025, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued an  opinion letter  containing important reminders about how to calculate overtime pay for non-exempt employees who earn amounts in addition to their base hourly wage. The opinion letter involved firefighters and paramedics who receive premium pay equal to one-half times their normal hourly rate for work performed during a disaster or emergency declaration. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) provides that non-exempt employees must be paid not less than one and one-half times their regular rate for hours worked above 40 in a workweek.  An employee’s regular rate is not limited to their base hourly wage. Instead, it includes all remuneration paid to the employee, subject to only eight statutory exclusions. The question presented was whether the “emergency pay” premiums qualified for any of those exclusions. The DOL answered in the negative. Among other considerations, the DOL opined that the premiums did not ...

It’s hard to keep up with all the recent changes to labor and employment law, especially since the law always seems to evolve at a rapid pace. To ensure you stay on top of the latest changes and have an action plan for compliance, here is a quick review of some recent critical developments we tracked and a checklist of the essential items you should consider addressing in July and beyond. _____ Complete your mid-year compliance check.  Sorry to start the checklist with another checklist – but did you know that a heap of new workplace laws take effect halfway through the year?  Here’s your employer cheat sheet to ensure you’re complying with various July 1 effective dates . _____ Assess the impact of new SCOTUS rulings.  As the Supreme Court’s 2024-2025 term ends, the Justices issued some key decisions in June that will affect the workplace.   They  scrapped the extra hurdle  in majority-group bias claims, significantly restricted  who can succeed on po...