The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has extended the comment period for two proposed rules—one that revises and clarifies joint-employer arrangements and another that clarifies how to calculate an employee’s regular rate of pay when determining workers’ overtime rates.
The DOL extended the deadline to provide interested parties additional time to submit comments in response to requests for extension from law firms, unions and advocacy organizations, among others.
Joint-Employer Rule
The proposed joint-employer rule revises and clarifies the responsibilities of employers and joint employers to employees in joint-employer arrangements.
The deadline for submitting comments has been extended to June 25 (the previous deadline was June 10).
You can submit comments, identified by Regulatory Information Number (RIN) 1235-AA26, either:
• Electronically through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov/docket?D=WHD-2019-0002; or
• By mail to:
Division of Regulations, Legislation, and Interpretation, Wage and Hour Division
U.S. Department of Labor
Room S-3502
200 Constitution Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20210
Regular Rate Rule
As a reminder, the DOL’s proposal seeks to clarify how employers calculate an employee’s regular rate of pay for the purposes of calculating overtime and what employers can properly exclude from the regular rate of pay.
The comment period, which was set to close on May 28, has been extended to June 12.
You can submit comments, identified by RIN 1235-AA24, either:
• Electronically through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov/docket?D=WHD-2019-0002; or
• By mail to:
Division of Regulations, Legislation, and Interpretation, Wage and Hour Division
U.S. Department of Labor
Room S-3502
200 Constitution Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20210
Comment on Overtime Rule
The DOL has one other proposed rule open for comment right now.
The proposed overtime rule increases the white collar exemption salary test from $455 per week ($23,660 annually) to $679 per week ($35,308 annually).
The deadline for submitting comments is May 21.
You can submit comments, identified by RIN 1235-AA20, either:
• Electronically through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov/docket?D=WHD-2019-0001-0001; or
• By mail to:
Melissa Smith
Director of Division of Regulations, Legislation and Interpretation, Wage and Hour Division
U.S. Department of Labor
Room S-3502
200 Constitution Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20210
So far, the regular rate and joint-employer rules have received relatively little public attention, with 40 and 22 public comments, respectively. In comparison, the overtime rule has received more than 57,000 comments at time of publication.
California Chamber of Commerce members can learn more about several noteworthy actions the federal government is taking this year in the Cases & News article “Feds Propose Overtime, Clarify FMLA Requirements” at HRCalifornia.com.
Staff Contact: Katie Culliton
