The Labor Department’s Pending Decisions (Overtime, Prevailing Wage, and Persuaders)…

As of now, we are still awaiting the Wage and Hour Division to release a proposal to update its overtime (OT) regulations. The rulemaking was due last month.  Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, workers are exempt from OT pay if they are salaried, earn more than a certain amount per year, and work in a “bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacity.”  The salary threshold under which workers are automatically owed overtime pay is $35,568, a figure set by the Trump administration in 2019.

A final rule that would tweak how the agency calculates prevailing wages paid to workers on federally funded construction projects under the Davis-Bacon Act is due in December. The 1931 law requires workers to receive pay and benefits equal to local rates for similar jobs when working on projects funded by the federal government. The DOL’s changes are being closely watched ahead of the wave of infrastructure projects expected to be subject to those rules. Companies looking to tap into certain tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act must pay prevailing wages, among other requirements.  The proposal would set the prevailing wage at the rate paid to at least 30% of workers doing a particular job in a geographic area. DOL currently calculates the “prevailing wage” through a survey process, and designates a rate as “prevailing” if more than 50% of workers in a certain area are paid at that amount.

Finally, DOL is due to release a final rule that would expand reporting requirements for businesses that use anti-union consultants. The agency sought public input on the proposal, which would require companies to include whether they’ve been a contractor for the federal government on their LM-10 form, through October.  Some businesses are required to file an annual LM-10 form, detailing the company’s expenditures on consultants hired to “persuade” employees regarding their organizing and collective bargaining rights or to monitor the activities of employees and unions involved in a labor dispute.  If the rule is finalized, businesses also would be required to report if they are a federal contractor or subcontractor, as well as the agency or agencies that contract with them for work.