Compliance Stuff

On January 5, 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued  Opinion Letter FLSA2026‑1 , addressing whether an employer may classify an employee as non‑exempt even when the employee satisfies the educational and job duties requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA) learned professional exemption. The opinion letter arose from a request involving a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) employed by a healthcare organization. The employee performed core job duties that included clinical assessments and psychosocial evaluations; treatment planning and documentation; participation in interdisciplinary care teams; crisis intervention and discharge planning; and consistent application of professional discretion and clinical judgment. The employee had been classified as exempt since obtaining her professional license, but following an internal restructuring that eliminated supervisory responsibilities, they were reclassified as non-exempt. The employee sought clarification a...

Companies often must determine whether to treat workers as employees or independent contractors.  Workers who are properly classified as independent contractors are not subject to wage and hour laws requiring overtime pay or tax withholding, among other differences between the classifications .  The rules governing how to classify workers under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) frequently change, making this a challenging inquiry for many companies.  Relevant to this issue, last month, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld a $9.3 million verdict against Steadfast Medical Staffing, a healthcare staffing agency who had misclassified approximately 1100 nurses as independent contractors instead of employees under the FLSA.  The case,  Chavez-Deremer v. Med. Staffing of Am., LLC , No. 23-2176 (4th Cir. July 17, 2025), serves as a reminder to companies—especially staffing agencies—to review relationships with their independent contractor...