The Employee Retention Tax Credit (“ERC”) has been a hot topic in tax circles lately. Enacted alongside the Paycheck Protection Program in 2020, the ERC was widely overlooked until.
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The Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor (“WHD”) issued six opinion letters in January 2021.[1] They address a number of important issues under the Fair Labor and Standards Act (“FLSA”). To ensure wage and hour compliance, we recommend reviewing these letters closely and consulting counsel with any questions as to how they may apply to a specific business situation.
FLSA2021-1
In FLSA2021-1, the WHD addressed whether account managers employed by a life science products manufacturer were properly classified as exempt from the FLSA minimum wage and overtime provisions under the administrative employee exemption. The administrative exemption applies to employees earning no less than $684 per week in salary or fee-basis compensation whose primary core duty is office or non-manual work directly related to the management or general business operations of the employer or the employer’s customer
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.