Feb 1, 2018, 3:24 PM
(from National Law Review) On January 5, 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor reissued 17 previously withdrawn opinion letters addressing a wide range of topics under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Most of these letters were signed in January of 2009, during the final days of the Bush administration, and then withdrawn by the Obama administration.
The reissued opinion letters have been renumbered FLSA2018-1 through FLSA 2018-17. They address a variety of inquiries concerning various sections of the FLSA and its implementing regulations. Many of the reissued opinion letters concern the exempt status of specific job positions in specific industries such as helicopter pilots and client managers at insurance companies. Also included is whether certain bonuses or other payments should be included in calculating employees’ regular rates pursuant to section 7(e) of the FLSA (FLSA2018-5, FLSA2018-9, and FLSA2018-11).
Opinion letters address specific questions submitted to the DOL and constitute an important form of guidance for employers and employees with respect to applying the requirements of the FLSA and other laws to their workplaces. The Obama administration discontinued the longstanding practice of issuing opinion letters and did not issue any new ones. Instead, the Obama administration issued a handful of general guidance documents that it referred to as “Administrator’s Interpretations.” In June 2017, U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta announced that he would reinstate the practice of issuing opinion letters.
More at National Law Review
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