Employment Standards Administration – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of Labor, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, conducts a preclearance consultation program to provide the general public and federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing collections of information in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA). This program helps to ensure that requested data can be provided in the desired format, reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood, and the impact of collection requirements on respondents can be properly assessed. Currently, the Wage and Hour Division is soliciting comments concerning its proposal to revise Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval of the Information Collection: Disclosures to Workers Under the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act. A copy of the proposed information request can be obtained by contacting the office listed below in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this notice.

The Department of Labor (Department) is soliciting comments concerning a proposed extension of the information collection request (ICR) titled, ``Employee Polygraph Protection Act.'' This comment request is part of continuing Departmental efforts to reduce paperwork and respondent burden in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The Department proposes to extend its information collection without change to existing requirements. This program helps to ensure that requested data can be provided in the desired format, reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood, and the impact of collection requirements on respondents can be properly assessed. A copy of the proposed information request can be obtained by contacting the office listed below in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this Notice.

The Department of Labor (Department) is soliciting comments concerning a proposed extension of the information collection request (ICR) titled ``Inflation Reduction Act Wage Rates and Wage Determinations.'' This comment request is part of continuing Departmental efforts to reduce paperwork and respondent burden in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA). The Department proposes to extend the approval of this existing information collection without change to existing requirements. This program helps to ensure that requested data can be provided in the desired format, reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood, and the impact of collection requirements on respondents can be properly assessed. A copy of the proposed information request can be obtained by contacting the office listed below in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this Notice.

This document extends the deadline for submitting written comments on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), Employee or Independent Contractor Classification Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, to December 13, 2022. The U.S. Department of Labor (Department) is taking this action to provide interested parties additional time to submit comments.

The Department of Labor (Department or DOL) is amending its regulations governing the certification of agricultural labor or services to be performed by temporary foreign workers in H-2A nonimmigrant status (H-2A workers) and enforcement of the contractual obligations applicable to employers of such nonimmigrant workers. These regulations are consistent with the Secretary of Labor's (Secretary) statutory responsibility to certify that there are not sufficient able, willing, and qualified workers available to fill the petitioning employer's job opportunity, and that the employment of H-2A workers in that job opportunity will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of workers in the United States similarly employed. Among the issues addressed in this final rule are improving the minimum standards and conditions of employment that employers must offer to workers; expanding the Department's authority to use enforcement tools, such as program debarment for substantial violations of program requirements; modernizing the process by which the Department receives and processes employers' job orders and applications for temporary agricultural labor certifications, including the recruitment of United States workers (U.S. workers); and revising the standards and procedures for determining the prevailing wage rate. This final rule will strengthen protections for workers, modernize and simplify the H- 2A application and temporary labor certification process, and ease regulatory burdens on employers.

The Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the U.S. Department of Labor (the Department) is issuing this notice to announce the applicable minimum wage rate for workers performing work on or in connection with federal contracts covered by Executive Order 13658, Establishing a Minimum Wage for Contractors (the Executive Order or the order), beginning January 1, 2023. Beginning on that date, the Executive Order 13658 minimum wage rate that generally must be paid to workers performing work on or in connection with covered contracts will increase to $12.15 per hour, while the required minimum cash wage that generally must be paid to tipped employees performing work on or in connection with covered contracts will increase to $8.50 per hour. Covered contracts that are entered into on or after January 30, 2022, or that are renewed or extended (pursuant to an option or otherwise) on or after January 30, 2022, are generally subject to a higher minimum wage rate established by Executive Order 14026 of April 27, 2021, Increasing the Minimum Wage for Federal Contractors.

The U.S. Department of Labor (Department) is publishing this final rule to adjust for inflation the civil monetary penalties assessed or enforced by the Department, pursuant to the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990 as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 (Inflation Adjustment Act). The Inflation Adjustment Act requires the Department to annually adjust its civil money penalty levels for inflation no later than January 15 of each year. The Inflation Adjustment Act provides that agencies shall adjust civil monetary penalties notwithstanding Section 553 of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). Additionally, the Inflation Adjustment Act provides a cost-of-living formula for adjustment of the civil penalties. Accordingly, this final rule sets forth the Department's 2022 annual adjustments for inflation to its civil monetary penalties.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) is providing notice to the public that the WHD sponsored information collection request (ICR) titled, ``Employment Information Form,'' has been approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). WHD is notifying the public that the information collection has been revised and extended effective immediately through November 30, 2024.

In this final rule, the Department of Labor (Department) finalizes its proposal to withdraw one portion of the Tip Regulations Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (2020 Tip final rule) and finalize its proposed revisions related to the determination of when a tipped employee is employed in dual jobs under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA or the Act). Specifically, the Department is amending its regulations to clarify that an employer may only take a tip credit when its tipped employees perform work that is part of the employee's tipped occupation. Work that is part of the tipped occupation includes work that produces tips as well as work that directly supports tip- producing work, provided the directly supporting work is not performed for a substantial amount of time.

In December 2020, the Department promulgated a final rule (2020 Tip final rule) to amend its tip regulations to address the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 (CAA) amendments to section 3(m) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), among other things. In this final rule, the Department withdraws two portions of the 2020 Tip final rule that have not yet gone into effect addressing civil money penalties (CMPs) and finalizes proposed changes to those portions of the 2020 Tip final rule. The Department also modifies regulatory provisions adopted by the 2020 Tip final rule addressing managers and supervisors.

The Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the U.S. Department of Labor (the Department) is issuing this notice to announce the applicable minimum wage rate for workers performing work on or in connection with federal contracts covered by Executive Order 13658, Establishing a Minimum Wage for Contractors (the Executive Order or the Order), beginning January 1, 2022. Beginning on that date, the Executive Order 13658 minimum wage rate that generally must be paid to workers performing work on or in connection with covered contracts will increase to $11.25 per hour, while the required minimum cash wage that generally must be paid to tipped employees performing work on or in connection with covered contracts will increase to $7.90 per hour. Covered contracts that are entered into on or after January 30, 2022, or that are renewed or extended (pursuant to an option or otherwise) on or after January 30, 2022, will be generally subject to a higher $15.00 minimum wage rate established by Executive Order 14026 of April 27, 2021, Increasing the Minimum Wage for Federal Contractors.

In this notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM), the Department of Labor (Department) proposes to withdraw and re-propose one portion of the Tip Regulations Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (2020 Tip final rule) related to the determination of when a tipped employee is employed in dual jobs under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA or the Act). Specifically, the Department is proposing to amend its regulations to clarify that an employer may only take a tip credit when its tipped employees perform work that is part of the employee's tipped occupation. Work that is part of the tipped occupation includes work that produces tips as well as work that directly supports tip- producing work, provided the directly supporting work is not performed for a substantial amount of time.

This action finalizes the Department of Labor's (Department) proposal to further extend the effective date of three discrete portions of the rule titled Tip Regulations Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (2020 Tip final rule), published December 30, 2020. This further delay of three portions of the rule allows the Department to complete a separate rulemaking that proposes to withdraw and re-propose two of these portions of the 2020 Tip final rule, published March 25, 2021, which includes, inter alia, a 60-day comment period and at least a 30-day delay between publication and the rule's effective date. It will also provide the Department additional time to conduct another rulemaking to potentially revise that portion of the 2020 Tip final rule addressing the application of the FLSA's tip credit provision to tipped employees who perform both tipped and non-tipped duties. All of the remaining portions of the 2020 Tip final rule will go into effect on April 30, 2021.

In this notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM), the Department proposes to withdraw and repropose two portions of the Tip Regulations Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (2020 Tip final rule) and seeks comment on whether to revise one other portion of the 2020 Tip final rule relating to the statutory amendments to the FLSA made by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 (CAA). The Department also asks questions about how it might improve the recordkeeping requirements in the 2020 Tip final rule in a future rulemaking. This rulemaking is related to a second NPRM, published elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register, which proposes to further extend the effective date of three portions of the 2020 Tip final rule in order to complete this rulemaking involving two of those portions and provide the Department additional time to consider whether to withdraw and repropose a third portion of the 2020 Tip final rule concerning the use of the tip credit when employees perform both tipped and non-tipped work.

The Department of Labor (the Department) is soliciting comments concerning a proposed extension of the information collection request (ICR) titled ``Information Collections Pertaining to Special Employment Under the Fair Labor Standards Act.'' This comment request is part of continuing Departmental efforts to reduce paperwork and respondent burden in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA). The Department proposes to extend the approval of this existing information collection without change. This program helps to ensure that requested data can be provided in the desired format, reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood, and the impact of collection requirements on respondents can be properly assessed. A copy of the proposed information request can be obtained by contacting the office listed below in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this Notice.

This notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) proposes to withdraw the final rule titled ``Independent Contractor Status under the Fair Labor Standards Act,'' which was published on January 7, 2021 and the effective date of which is currently May 7, 2021.

Consistent with the Presidential directive as expressed in the memorandum of January 20, 2021, from the Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff, titled ``Regulatory Freeze Pending Review,'' this action finalizes the Department of Labor's proposal to delay until May 7, 2021, the effective date of the rule titled Independent Contractor Status Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (``Independent Contractor Rule'' or ``January 2021 Rule''), which was published in the Federal Register on January 7, 2021, to allow the Department to review issues of law, policy, and fact raised by the rule before it takes effect.

In accordance with the Presidential directive as expressed in the memorandum of January 20, 2021 from the Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff, entitled ``Regulatory Freeze Pending Review,'' this action proposes to delay until April 30, 2021 the effective date of the rule entitled Tip Regulations Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (``Tip Rule''), published in the Federal Register on December 30, 2020. The rule's current effective date is March 1, 2021. WHD seeks comments on this proposed delay, which would allow the Wage and Hour Division additional opportunity for review and consideration of the new rule.

The U.S. Department of Labor (Department) is publishing this final rule to adjust for inflation the civil monetary penalties assessed or enforced by the Department, pursuant to the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990 as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 (Inflation Adjustment Act). The Inflation Adjustment Act requires the Department to annually adjust its civil money penalty levels for inflation no later than January 15 of each year. The Inflation Adjustment Act provides that agencies shall adjust civil monetary penalties notwithstanding Section 553 of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). Additionally, the Inflation Adjustment Act provides a cost- of-living formula for adjustment of the civil penalties. Accordingly, this final rule sets forth the Department's 2021 annual adjustments for inflation to its civil monetary penalties.

The U.S. Department of Labor (the Department) is revising its interpretation of independent contractor status under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA or the Act) to promote certainty for stakeholders, reduce litigation, and encourage innovation in the economy.

The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Labor (DOL) are jointly issuing this direct final rule to extend DOL's recently established system of discretionary Secretary of Labor review to H-2B temporary labor certification cases (H-2B cases) pending before or decided by the Department of Labor's Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals and to make technical, conforming changes to regulations governing the timing and finality of those decisions and of decisions from the Department of Labor's Administrative Review Board in H-2B cases.

The Department of Labor (DOL), as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, conducts a preclearance consultation program to provide the general public and federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing collections of information in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. This program helps to ensure that requested data can be provided in the desired format, reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood, and the impact of collection requirements on respondents can be properly assessed. Currently, the Wage and Hour Division is soliciting comments concerning the revision to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval of the Information Collections: Application for a Farm Labor Contractor or Farm Labor Contractor Employee Certificate of Registration. A copy of the proposed information collection request can be obtained by contacting the office listed below in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this Notice.

The U.S. Department of Labor (the Department) is revising its interpretation of independent contractor status under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA or Act) in order to promote certainty for stakeholders, reduce litigation, and encourage innovation in the economy.

The Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the U.S. Department of Labor (the Department) is issuing this notice to announce the applicable minimum wage rate for workers performing work on or in connection with federal contracts covered by Executive Order 13658, Establishing a Minimum Wage for Contractors (the Executive Order or the Order), beginning January 1, 2021. Beginning on that date, the Executive Order minimum wage rate that generally must be paid to workers performing work on or in connection with covered contracts will increase to $10.95 per hour, while the required minimum cash wage that generally must be paid to tipped employees performing work on or in connection with covered contracts will increase to $7.65 per hour.

The Department of Labor (Department) is seeking information from the public regarding the regulations implementing the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA or the Act). The Department is publishing this Request for Information (RFI) to gather information concerning the effectiveness of the current regulations and to aid the Department in its administration of the FMLA. The information provided will help the Department identify topics for which additional compliance assistance could be helpful, including opportunities for outreach to ensure employers are aware of their obligations under the law and employees are informed about their rights and responsibilities in using FMLA leave.