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Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions is a semiannual compilation of information about regulations under development by federal agencies, published in the spring and fall.
The government’s fall regulatory agenda just dropped. Highlights include overtime regulations slated for April 2024.
The DOL plans to finalize updates to the executive, administrative and professional exemption for overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
The sizable hike means that, if the rule goes into effect as proposed, employers may have many employees whose salary falls between the current threshold and the proposed new threshold, Coburn noted. Employers “will have to decide whether to increase the salaries for those employees to get them up over the new salary threshold, or to convert the employees to nonexempt and start paying them overtime.
In addition to being a costly proposed rule for businesses, there might be nonmonetary impacts on employees whose salary is between the current threshold and the proposed new one.
Based on the Regulatory Agenda highlights, DOL plans to move swiftly through regulations now that the Comments Period (11/7/23) has closed. The DOL is required to take each comment into account and then determine whether to adjust the proposed rule before it becomes final. The agency will then issue a final rule taking the comments into account, and it will then take effect within a few weeks of the final proposal being issued. Employers must start preparing for what could be big changes to your compensation plans.
Now is the time for Employers to make preparations for this impactful process.
Employers should learn that the previous overtime increase created severe complications regarding communications to impacted employees, a decrease in staff morale for those who believed that it was a demotion, loss of benefits when they decided to reduce hours, and costs, challenges with job descriptions and expected impact in Employer’s budget. It led to an increase in turnover and a decrease in retention.
Employers can take the time to review and prepare for setting guidelines on how they communicate the impact to employees, make effective decisions on how to cut costs without reducing employee hours or benefits, and develop a training program for managers and newly non-exempt employees.
Learn How Misclassifications Can be a Legal Nightmare for Employers!
The new independent contractor rule from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) could spark an increase in misclassification lawsuits and make businesses less likely to hire gig workers, according to some legal experts.
The final rule restores an earlier standard that required companies to weigh a variety of economic factors together to determine whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor. It will take effect on March 11.
It should not be a strange test to employers. We’re back to where we were in the past. At the end of the day, it’s the courts that really have the power to make that determination about whether an employer misclassified a worker.
The new rule returns to a more employee-friendly standard, and it may usher in a wave of misclassification lawsuits under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
The current rule prescribes a five-factor test to guide the analysis, two of which were designated as “core factors” carrying more weight:
if these two factors point in the same direction – an independent contractor – then it is likely that the worker is properly classified as an independent contractor.
By contrast, the proposed six-factor totality test eschews any predetermined weighting. Rather, it requires that each factor be considered in light of the economic reality of the entire activity at issue. The six factors are:
It is critical for Employers and professionals to make decisions to be compliant based on the criteria above.
Considering this heightened scrutiny and potential narrower legal standard, it is now more important than ever to evaluate how companies structure an independent contractor relationship. It is particularly important for employers to seek guidance from experienced counsel when developing and implementing policies related to working with independent contractors.
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