Last week, President Biden marked his 100
th day in office. This Lightbulb illuminates some of the more important developments affecting wage and hour law taken during the first 100 days of the Biden administration.
Fight for $15. A top Biden administration priority remains increasing the minimum wage to $15. On April 27, President Biden issued an executive order requiring federal contractors and subcontractors to pay a minimum hourly wage of $15 (effective January 22, 2022) for workers employed in the performance of federal contracts or subcontracts. Thereafter, the minimum wage will be increased based on changes in the Consumer Price Index (or additional legislation changing the minimum wage). The executive order also includes a provision to phase out the tip credit for tipped employees while performing work under federal contracts or subcontracts. This follows the failure to get the proposal included in President Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill. The admi
Friday, January 22, 2021
In 2017, then-Department of Labor (DOL) Secretary Alexander Acosta, appointed by former President Donald Trump, announced the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) would be reviving the practice of issuing Opinion Letters, seeking to “provide clarity that helps increase compliance to the benefit of all.”
Opinion Letters represent official statements of DOL policy and, therefore, may form the basis of a “good faith” defense to an alleged Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) violation. During the Obama administration, the DOL stopped issuing such letters. Instead, it opted for more limited “Administrator Interpretations” that covered broader issues as opposed to the often nitty-gritty details addressed in Opinion Letters.