Proposed FLSA Joint Employment Rule Would Reduce Business Overtime Liability Risks

U.S. businesses should move quickly to express strong support for the Joint Employer Status under the Fair Labor Standards Act Rule proposed by the Department of Labor today to help reduce their exposure to liability to pay overtime or other liabilities of subcontractors or other businesses under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

The FLSA allows the Labor Department and private litigants to hold businesses jointly and severally liable with the actual employer for minimum wage or overtime back pay and penalties as joint employers when a business is a “joint employer” within the meaning of the FLSA. Many businesses have learned the hard way that they meet the definition of “joint employer” when presented with a Labor Department demand that their business pay the back pay and penalties for another business’ FLSA violations. See, e.g.,U.S. Department of Labor Recovers $3.2 Million in Back Wages, Damages, And Penalties from Portland, Oregon, Courier Servicemen.

Business' joint employer exposure under the FLSA has exploded the Labor Department during the Obama Administration began applying a new definition of joint employment it adopted in sub-regulatory guidance without seeking public comment or following other requirements to adopt a formal regulatory change. As reinterpreted, the Labor Department began enforcing the joint employment rule to hold businesses liable based on even very limited indirect influence over wages or other employment conditions. This interpretive change made it significantly more likely that a businesses could face joint employer FLSA liability for a subcontractor or other business’ minimum wage, overtime and other FLSA responsibilities.

The Proposed Regulation would overrule the hangover Obama-Era interpretation as well as issue a new definition more consistent with judicial precedent and more friendly to business. It calls for a clear, four-factor test—based on well-established precedent—that would consider whether the potential joint employer actually exercises control under more traditional common law standards.

Business is concerned about managing these risks definitely need to act to submit supportive comments during the currently running 60-day comment period. All businesses also generally will want to evaluate their potential joint employer liability under the FLSA and other laws and take steps to mitigate these risks keeping in mind that wage and hour and worker classification issues are key liability and enforcement areas.  $1.4M FLSA Back Pay Award Demonstrates Worker Misclassification Risks.  Today’s Proposed Regulation comes as key Congressional Democrats have continued to fuss about the National Labor Relations Board’s proposal last Fall of a joint employer rule substantially similar to the 4-part rule contained in the Proposed Regulation.  

Employer and other business leaders also should keep in mind that the Proposed Regulation follows the the Labor Department Wage and Hour Division’s proposal last month of of an employer-friendly change to its Regular Rate Regulations and an employee friendly Salary Theshold Rule that instantly will convert more than 1 million currently salaried workers to hourly workers See, Proposed FLSA Base Pay Rule Clarifies Overtime Treatment Of Perks;  Give Labor Department Feedback On Proposed $124 Per Week Increase In FLSA Salary Threshold & Other Burdensome Rules. Employers and others should submit their written comments to these proposed rules as soon as possible and within the 60-day comment period applicable to that proposed rule change.

Whether or not these proposed rule changes take effect, U.S. businesses will want to strengthen their existing practices for classifying and compensating workers under existing Federal and state wage and hour laws, tighten contracting and other compliance oversight in relation to outsourced services, weigh options to clean up exposure areas, review insurance coverages and consider other options to minimize their potential liability under applicable wages and hour laws within the scope of attorney-client privilege. 

Learn more here.

If you need more information or have questions, contact the author, Cynthia Marcotte Stamer.  We also invite you to share your own best practices ideas and resources and join the discussions about these and other human resources, health and other employee benefit and patient empowerment concerns by participating and contributing to the discussions on LinkedIn.

About the Author

Recognized by her peers as a Martindale-Hubble “AV-Preeminent” (Top 1%) and “Top Rated Lawyer” with special recognition LexisNexis? Martindale-Hubbell? as “LEGAL LEADER? Texas Top Rated Lawyer” in Health Care Law and Labor and Employment Law; as among the “Best Lawyers In Dallas” for her work in the fields of “Labor & Employment,” “Tax: ERISA & Employee Benefits,” “Health Care” and “Business and Commercial Law” by D Magazine, Cynthia Marcotte Stamer is a practicing attorney board certified in labor and employment law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and management consultant, author, public policy advocate and lecturer widely known for 30+ years of management focused wage and hour and other employment, employee benefit and insurance, workforce and other management work, public policy leadership and advocacy, coaching, teachings, and publications.

Highly valued for her rare ability to find pragmatic client-centric solutions by combining her detailed legal and operational knowledge and experience with her talent for creative problem-solving, Ms. Stamer has extensive experience advising and defending businesses and their management on wage and hour and other workforce, compensation and employee benefit concerns. Ms. Stamer’s clients include employers and other workforce management organizations; employer, union, association, government and other insured and self-insured health and other employee benefit plan sponsors, benefit plans, fiduciaries, administrators, and other plan vendors;  domestic and international public and private health care, education and other community service and care organizations; managed care organizations; insurers, third-party administrative services organizations and other payer organizations; and other private and government organizations and their management leaders.

Throughout her career, Ms. Stamer has continuously worked with these and other management clients to design, implement, document, administer and defend hiring, performance management, compensation, promotion, demotion, discipline, reduction in force and other workforce, employee benefit, insurance and risk management, health and safety, and other programs, products and solutions, and practices; establish and administer compliance and risk management policies; comply with requirements, investigate and respond to government, accreditation and quality organizations, regulatory and contractual audits, private litigation and other federal and state reviews, investigations and enforcement actions; evaluate and influence legislative and regulatory reforms and other regulatory and public policy advocacy; prepare and present training and discipline; handle workforce and related change management associated with mergers, acquisitions, reductions in force, re-engineering, and other change management; and a host of other workforce related concerns.

A former lead consultant to the Government of Bolivia on its Pension Privatization Project with extensive domestic and international public policy concerns in pensions, healthcare, workforce, immigration, tax, education and other areas, Ms. Stamer has been extensively involved in U.S. federal, state and local health care and other legislative and regulatory reform impacting these concerns throughout her career. Her public policy and regulatory affairs experience encompasses advising and representing domestic and multinational private sector health, insurance, employee benefit, employer, staffing and other outsourced service providers, and other clients in dealings with Congress, state legislatures, and federal, state and local regulators and government entities, as well as providing advice and input to U.S. and foreign government leaders on these and other policy concerns.

Author of leading works on wage and hour and a multitude of labor and employment, compensation and benefits, internal controls and compliance, and risk management matters and a Fellow in the American College of Employee Benefit Counsel, the American Bar Foundation and the Texas Bar Foundation, Ms. Stamer also shares her thought leadership, experience and advocacy on these and other related concerns by her service in the leadership of the Solutions Law Press, Inc. Coalition for Responsible Health Policy, its PROJECT COPE: Coalition on Patient Empowerment, and a broad range of other professional and civic organizations including North Texas Healthcare Compliance Association, a founding Board Member and past President of the Alliance for Healthcare Excellence, past Board Member and Board Compliance Committee Chair for the National Kidney Foundation of North Texas; former Board President of the early childhood development intervention agency, The Richardson Development Center for Children (now Warren Center For Children); current Vice Chair of the ABA Tort & Insurance Practice Section Employee Benefits Committee, current Vice Chair of Policy for the Life Sciences Committee of the ABA International Section, Past Chair of the ABA Health Law Section Managed Care & Insurance Section, a current Defined Contribution Plan Committee Co-Chair, former Group Chair and Co-Chair of the ABA RPTE Section Employee Benefits Group, past Representative and chair of various committees of ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits; an ABA Health Law Coordinating Council representative, former Coordinator and a Vice-Chair of the Gulf Coast TEGE Council TE Division, past Chair of the Dallas Bar Association Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Committee, a former member of the Board of Directors of the Southwest Benefits Association and others.

For more information about the matters discussed in this article, Ms. Stamer or her services, experience and involvements, see here or contact Ms. Stamer via telephone at (214) 452-8297 or via e-mail here.

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?2019 Cynthia Marcotte Stamer. All rights reserved. For information about republication or the topic of this article, please contact the author.