Dive Brief:
- Federal authorities plan to propose new overtime and joint employment regulations in the new year, among other updates, according to regulatory agendas published Friday.
- The U.S. Department of Labor said it will review Fair Labor Standards Act regs that implement white-collar minimum wage and overtime exemptions and propose an update in April 2022.
- Separately, the National Labor Relations Board said it plans to propose in February 2022 an update to rules that govern when two or more employers are jointly liable for National Labor Relations Act violations.
Dive Insight:
The DOL and NLRB notices represent the latest updates in a years-long debate on both topics, and neither comes as a surprise to employment experts.
Following much back-and-forth at the end of the Obama administration, the current FLSA overtime threshold sits just above $35,000 per year, meaning employees who make less are entitled to minimum wage and overtime. Congressional Democrats earlier this year called for a substantial increase, to more than $82,000. In July, DOL confirmed that it was reviewing the threshold, considering an increase and automatic updates; Friday's announcement may represent the first step in that process.
NLRA joint employment liability has seen similar debate in recent years. The latest update was a Trump-era rule that narrowed joint employment and is the subject of ongoing, high-profile litigation. Just this week, Bloomberg Law reported that employer groups in favor of that standard had hired Philip Miscimarra — NLRB's chair during the Trump administration — to defend the rule.
Friday's announcements included few details about what the regulations might entail; more information and an invitation to comment are likely to come in the formal proposals.
