Compliance Stuff

With the federal government shutdown ending, employers need to shift gears fast. Key federal agencies will soon resume normal operations, and we’ll see regulatory action and oversight surge back into motion. This is the moment to move from pause to power-up: review where your organization hit the brakes, identify what got delayed, and prepare for the ramp-up ahead. Here’s what you should expect and what you should do. Mechanics of the Restart With federal funding resumed, many previously “non-essential” agency functions will begin to re-activate. But don’t expect an immediate return to normalcy. Agencies will need to dig out from the backlog created by the longest shutdown in our nation’s history, so you’ll see a gradual ramp-up period for pending investigations, audits, applications, and compliance checks. Officials will likely prioritize high-risk or high-profile issues. For employers, your quiet window is now closed. If your organization postponed compliance initiatives, filings,...

The Senate’s recent confirmation of Andrew Rogers to head the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division will press the gas pedal on Trump administration plans to clarify joint employer and independent contractor status, as well as several compliance assistance initiatives . As Rogers settles into his new role, employers should be aware of several key DOL programs and regulatory initiatives that he will be leading. Here’s what you should keep an eye on in the federal wage and hour space. Quick Background Rogers, whose nomination was approved by the Senate on October 7, has worked in the Wage and Hour Division before – experience that will allow him to quickly get his hands into several key rulemakings that will have major implications for employers. “Rogers has been there before, so he knows the players, he knows the building. It’s going to be helpful to not have so much of a learning phase to start, but rather, he can hit the ground running from the get-go,” said Dave Dorey, a ...

Updated 09.02.25 to include 2024 Minimum Salary Rule development that occurred since original publication date. Uncertainty persists as employers navigate federal wage and hour compliance in the second Trump Administration. Several final rules issued by the Department of Labor (DOL) during the Biden Administration have been mired in ongoing litigation. The DOL has signaled a retreat from the defense of these lawsuits and has begun to roll back other regulations. As the federal government eases its regulatory grip, employers must continue to comply with more stringent or otherwise different standards that apply under state and local wage and hour laws. 2024 Minimum Salary Rule: Defunct, Perhaps Replaced The DOL issued a final rule on April 26, 2024, to increase the minimum salary threshold for application of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA’s) “white collar” exemptions. The first of what was to be a two-stage increase took effect on July 1, 2024, adopting a sharp, two-stage increase...

The US Department of Labor’s latest update rewards employers that proactively resolve potential wage and hour claims and obtain approval of their investigation and resolution . The DOL’s Wage and Hour Division first introduced the Payroll Audit Independent Determination (PAID) Program in 2018 , but it was shut down in 2021. Yesterday’s news that the program has now officially returned follows several other big changes from the DOL: the  reboot  last month of the opinion letter program, a general reduction in WHD staffing levels, and  an announcement  earlier this month that it would not seek liquidated damages in pre-litigation settlements. T he PAID program’s revival highlights the value of employer self-audits and proactive handling of potential wage claims. Here’s what you need to know about it and how it might benefit your organization. Background The  2018 PAID program  was instituted to encourage self-audits of pay practices, and applied to Fair Labor...