Several state and local minimum wage rates will increase in the latter half of 2022, with most of these changes effective on July 1, 2022. Increases to minimum wage rates for nonexempt employees and tipped employees in Florida will occur later in the year, on September 30, 2022.
In 2022, while the federal minimum wage will remain at $7.25 per hour for non-tipped employees and $2.13 per hour for tipped employees, several states’ minimum wage rates will increase. The chart below lists the state (and certain major locality) minimum wage rate increases for 2022—and future years if available—along with the related changes in the maximum tip credit and minimum cash wage for tipped employees.
The Beltway Buzz is a weekly update summarizing labor and employment news from inside the Beltway and clarifying how what’s happening in Washington, D.C. could impact your business.
On February 5, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published notices in the Federal Register of its proposed delay of the effective dates of the Trump administration’s regulations addressing independent contractor classification and tipped workers. The DOL’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) indicates that the delay is necessary to “provide the WHD additional opportunity to review and consider the questions of law, policy, and fact” raised by the new regulations.
Several states’ minimum wage rates will increase in 2021. The following chart lists the state (and certain major locality) minimum wage increases for 2021—and future years, if available—along with the related changes in the maximum tip credit and minimum cash wage for tipped employees.
The Beltway Buzz is a weekly update summarizing labor and employment news from inside the Beltway and clarifying how what’s happening in Washington, D.C. could impact your business.
Effective with the May 19, 2020, publication in the Federal Register, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division revokes the arbitrary lists it created in 1961 identifying industries that may, or would not, qualify as retail or service in nature “for purposes of an exemption from overtime pay applicable to commission-based employees.”
As COVID-19 continues to remain a critical issue across the country, an increasing number of employers that are allowed to remain open despite shelter-in-place orders may be experiencing staffing shortages. This is because employees may be increasingly absent due to mandatory or voluntary quarantines. To maintain operations, many of these employers are turning to areas of their businesses or enterprises that may have a staffing surplus, and temporarily reassigning those employees to the more essential roles vacated by employees who are absent as a result of the COVID-19 crisis.
On March 28, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division released an updated set of Questions and Answers (Q&As) that provide additional guidance concerning how employers may take advantage of the small business exemption under the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Act (EFMLEA) and the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act (EPSLA). The small business exemption is addressed in questions 4 and 58-59).
On March 24, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division issued preliminary guidance for employers and employees concerning the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act (EFMLEA) and the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act (EPSLA). Both laws are part of larger Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) enacted on March 18, 2020.
On January 7, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) issued three opinion letters, two of which concerned the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). (The other dealt with the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993.) These opinion letters are the first of the new year and a new decade.
In 2020, a number of states’ minimum wage rates will increase. The following chart lists the states’ (and certain major localities’) minimum wage increases for 2020—and future years if available—along with the related changes in the maximum tip credit and minimum cash wage for tipped employees. The federal minimum wage will remain at $7.25 per
The Beltway Buzz is a weekly update summarizing labor and employment news from inside the Beltway and clarifying how what’s happening in Washington, D.C. could impact your business.
On November 4, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced its notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that would give employers more flexibility in the way they calculate overtime pay for workers with inconsistent schedules that result in workweeks with varying hours of work.
In its final part 541 overtime rule, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD) set the salary level or amount test at $684 per week/$35,568 per year for exempt executive, administrative, and professional employees of section 13(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
On August 8, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that it issued three new opinion letters. The letters cover issues related to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
On March 14, 2019, the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued two new opinion letters addressing compliance under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
On March 7, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD) announced the release of its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to revise the regulations defining who is an executive, administrative, professional, outside sales and computer employee exempt from the overtime and minimum wage protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
On March 7, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) unveiled its new overtime proposal in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), which would update the salary thresholds according to which workers are entitled to overtime compensation.
In 2019, a number of states’ minimum wage rates will increase.
On July 1, 2018, a number of localities in California saw their minimum wages increase.
On July 1, 2018, a number of states’ and localities’ minimum wage increases went into effect.
In 2018, the federal minimum wage will remain at $7.25 per hour for non-tipped employees and $2.13 per hour for tipped employees. The following table summarizes the statewide minimum wage increases that have been announced for 2018, along with the related changes to the maximum tip credit permitted and minimum cash wage allowed for tipped employees.
In 2016, 17 states and the District of Columbia implemented increased minimum wage rates. This year, even more states are scheduled to do so.
In order to qualify for one or more of the white collar exemptions to the overtime requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), an employee must meet three tests: (1) the salary basis test (which asks how the employee is paid), (2) the salary level test (which establishes a minimum salary amount that employees must earn to be considered exempt), and (3) the primary duties test (which asks which kinds of job duties the employee performs). The new final regulations revising the minimum salary amount were published in the Federal Register on Monday, May 23, 2016. The new minimum salary level, which takes effect on December 1, 2016, is $913 a week or $47,476 annually.
The minimum salary threshold to qualify for the executive, administrative, and professional exemptions to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) will more than double on December 1, 2016, from $23,660 per year to $47,476 per year. This is the most notable—but not the only – change to the FLSA exemption requirements under the final Part 541regulations that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released today. Another noteworthy provision in the final Part 541 rule is one to automatically adjust this salary amount every three years beginning on January 1, 2020.
The new minimum salary level for the executive, administrative, and professional employee exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) will be $913 per week, or $47,476 per year, under final regulations that will be released on Wednesday, May 18, 2016, by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). This new salary threshold—which will become effective on December 1, 2016—more than doubles the current minimum salary level of $455 per week, or $23,660 per year, and will have a dramatic impact on employers.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division delivered its proposed final revisions to the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA’s) Part 541 overtime regulations to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) two months ago. Reports have now emerged that the final overtime rule will be released to the public on Wednesday, May 18, 2016.
Oregon’s legislature has approved a bill to raise the state’s minimum wage. Governor Kate Brown signed the bill on March 2, 2016, with increases scheduled to take effect beginning July 1, 2016.
On July 15, 2015, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued an “Administrator’s Interpretation” (AI 2015-1) providing guidance on whether workers are employees or independent contractors under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor ceased issuing opinion letters in 2009 at the beginning of President Obama’s administration. In place of opinion letters, the Wage and Hour Division occasionally issues administrative interpretations designed to provide meaningful and comprehensive guidance to both employers and employees. AI 2015-1 makes it clear that the Department of Labor contends too many workers are misclassified as independent contractors throughout the country.
