Legal Alert: Federal Courts Deal a Blow to DOL Regulatory Efforts

Executive Summary: Recently, two different federal courts have invalidated statutory interpretations by the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD). Generally, WHD may create regulations on its own to assist in clarifying ambiguities and to fill statutory gaps within the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The current administration has used this administrative process to modify the law in ways that advance its agenda, often without much, if any, input from employers. The federal court decisions striking down the DOL’s aggressive campaign to modify wage-and-hour law through the regulatory process will hopefully send a message that the DOL must stay within the powers delegated to it by Congress, including obtaining employer perspectives when necessary.