The US Department of Labor has finalized a rule which would increase the salary thresholds necessary to qualify for an exemption from minimum wage and overtime requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Read MoreThe United States Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued a Final Rule regarding the classification of workers as employees or independent contractors under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA” or the “Act”). The Final Rule went into effect on March 11, 2024. As employers are aware, the Act’s minimum wage and overtime protections only apply to employees, not independent contractors. The Final Rule rescinds the DOL’s 2021 Independent Contractor Rule and its use of two “core factors” to determine whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor and reflects a return to the pre-2021 “totality-of-the-circumstances” analysis to determine if a worker is economically dependent on the employer.
Read MoreEmployers may recall that at the close of 2022, a flurry of federal and state legislation concerning the rights of nursing employees was enacted. This legislation included the federal PUMP Act, which expanded nursing employees’ access to break time and space to express breast milk under the Fair Labor Standards Act, and an amendment to the New York State Labor Law, which expanded accommodations and protections for nursing employees. The US Department of Labor and NYS Department of Labor both released guidance further clarifying the impact of the new laws.
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