Compliance Stuff

  In a major win for the Department of Labor, a federal appeals court just ruled that the agency has the power to set a salary basis floor in order for workers to be considered exempt from overtime pay. Yesterday’s ruling from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals was by no means a slam dunk given the Supreme Court recently ripped a great deal of power from federal agencies and told federal judges they should exercise their own independent authority when ruling on these types of rules. But a three-judge panel from the conservative appeals court agreed with the agency and upheld the salary basis floor just months before a new rule takes effect on January 1 to raise the minimum salary level to about $59K . What do you need to know about the ruling and what should you do in the coming months to prepare for the impending effective date? What Were We Arguing About? Let’s start by taking a big step back. Congress passed a federal wage and hour law almost 90 years ago – the Fair Labor Standar...

 On June 28, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued a limited injunction of the U.S. Department of Labor’s new regulations increasing the minimum salary that certain executive, administrative, and professional (EAP) employees must be paid to qualify for the so-called “white-collar” exemption under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The injunction is limited, however, to the State of Texas in its capacity as an employer of state employees—businesses in Texas (and throughout the country) are not currently shielded from the scheduled increases by the court’s injunction, although other challenges to the rule, including one with a request for nationwide injunctive relief, remain pending. The first phase of the increase is scheduled to go into effect on July 1, 2024, with a second increase kicking in on January 1, 2025. Background The FLSA generally requires an employer to pay an employee time-and-a-half (“overtime”) if the employee works more than 40 h...

On Tuesday, April 23, 2024, the Biden-Harris administration announced that a final rule that increases overtime protections for the nation's lower-paid salaried workers to exempt salaried bona fide executive, administrative or professional employees from federal overtime pay requirements.   This rule ensures salaried workers making less than  $58,656  receive fair pay for working over 40 hours---meaning, they will qualify for overtime.     By increasing the salary threshold, this will be giving more workers pay or valuable time back with their family:  by better identifying which employees are executive, administrative or professional employees who should be overtime exempt.  The rule ensures that those employees who are not exempt, receive time-and-a-half pay when working more than 40 hours in a week or gain more time with their families.   The rule will also establish regular to the salary thresholds every three years to reflect changes in earni...