By Nancy Chawla, Ben Conley, Caroline Pieper, Joy Sellstrom, and Joel Wilde
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) requires group health plans and insurers to cover treatments for mental health and substance use disorders in a manner that is equitable to the plans’ coverage of medical and surgical treatments. Exactly how
Continue Reading Mental Health Compliance Report Issued to Congress Spoiler Alert – Plans All Fail
By A. Scott Hecker and Noah A. Finkel
Seyfarth Synopsis: On June 13, 2023, the Biden Administration announced the release of its Spring 2023 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions (the 2022 Fall Agenda was issued in January 2023). In connection with the Administration’s new regulatory agenda, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division continues to pursue a
Continue Reading The Biden Administration Issued Its Spring 2023 Regulatory Agenda . . . in (Late) Spring 2023! What’s in the Works for DOL Rulemaking, Including on a New Minimum Salary for Exempt Employees?
Seyfarth Synopsis: Illinois joined the exclusive club of now three states that require employers to offer paid leave for any reason when Governor J.B. Pritzker signed the Paid Leave for Workers Act last week. The Act takes effect on January 1, 2024. Illinois employees will be entitled to earn and use at least 40 hours
Continue Reading Paid Leave For Any Reason Now A Reality In Illinois
By Annette Idalski, Kyle Winnick, A. Scott Hecker, and Ethan Goemann
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Supreme Court held that highly-compensated employees paid solely on a day rate must meet the so-called “reasonable relationship test” to satisfy the salary basis requirement.
In Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. v. Hewitt, the Supreme Court considered whether a day-rate employee
Continue Reading Supreme Court Holds That Highly-Compensated Employees Solely Paid a Day Rate Must Meet Reasonable Relationship TestBy Ted North and A. Scott Hecker
On March 11, 2022, the Department of Labor (DOL) announced a notice of proposed rulemaking (“NPRM”) related to the Davis Bacon Act (the “Act”), entitled “Updating the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts Regulations.” The move to modernize the Act’s regulations looks to deliver changes promised by President Biden to use the Act and its
Continue Reading Back To The Future: Department of Labor Reanimates Prior Davis-Bacon “Prevailing Wage” Definition
By Camille A. Olson, Richard B. Lapp, Louisa J. Johnson, and Andrew M. McKinley
Seyfarth Synopsis: With the growth of the gig economy, the increased desire of some workers to control their own work hours to ensure a work-life balance, and the evolution of the modern workplace to one in which workers rarely retain one full-time
Continue Reading US DOL Issues Final Rule on Independent Contractor Status Under the FLSA
By Kristin G. McGurn and Alison H. Silveira
Seyfarth Synopsis: Department of Labor Acting Administrator Bryan Jarrett issued Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2018-4 (“FAB”) on July 13, to guide Wage & Hour Division (“WHD”) field investigators on how to determine whether home care, nurse, or caregiver registries are employers under the Fair Labor Standards Act. A “registry” is “an
Continue Reading DOL Guidance on Registry Employer Status: Foreshadowing A More Tolerant Independent Contractor Approach
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Department of Labor has scrapped its 2010 Fact Sheet on internship status and adopted the more flexible and employer-friendly test devised by Second Circuit.
In a decision that surprised no one who has followed the litigation of wage hour claims by interns, the US Department of Labor has abandoned its ill-fated six-part test for
Continue Reading DOL Bids Adieu to Six-Factor Internship Test
By Jason E. Burritt, Michelle Gergerian, and Dawn M. Lurie
Seyfarth Synopsis: If Congress fails to pass a funding bill by midnight on Friday, April 28, resulting in a federal government shutdown, it would trigger numerous immigration-related ripple effects on employers, both large and small. The federal government, through its various agencies, plays a key role in
Continue Reading Potential Government Shutdown: Immigration Consequences for Employers and their Foreign National Employees
On March 23, 2016, the DOL revealed its final “persuader” rule — a regulation that has been in the works for years. According to the DOL, the rule “realign[s] the Department’s regulations with the text of . . . the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (LMRDA).”
Among other things, the LMRDA requires certain
Continue Reading Department of Labor Reveals Final Persuader Rule