A trio of recent court decisions staying implementation of the controversial persuader rule, most of the much-criticized Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces (“FPSW”) executive order, and the Department of Labor’s highly publicized overtime rule are a breath of fresh air for employers who have been struggling to keep up with the onslaught of new regulatory requirements advanced by the Obama administration. However, as the year winds down, employers should keep in mind that, as of yet, there has been no stay of the other pay-related regulations finalized earlier this year.
Although the regulations implementing the labor violation reporting and anti-arbitration aspects of the FPSW were temporarily blocked on October 24, 2016, the paycheck transparency requirements are still slated to take effect on January 1, 2017. These requirements are applicable to federal contractors and subcontractors who enter into covered contracts exceeding $500,000 (after January 1) and require covered contractors to:
- include certain required information (including hours worked and overtime hours by work week) on the paystubs for workers performing work on covered contracts;
- provide written notice of exempt status to all exempt employees performing work on covered contracts;
- provide written notice of independent contractor status to independent contractors performing work on covered contracts; and
- incorporate language referencing the rule’s requirements into all covered subcontracts.
Similarly, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s regulations modifying employers’ annual EEO-1 reporting obligations remain unaffected by the recent court activity. Therefore, absent any future government or court action, covered employers (e.g., federal contractors/subcontractors and non-contractor employers that have 100 or more employees) will still be required to begin reporting on hours of work and W-2 earnings for their workforce starting with the 2017 EEO-1 report (currently due March 31, 2018).
Given the recent developments (and with more likely to occur between now and the end of President-Elect Trump’s first 100 days), employers should stay tuned regarding the status of these and other labor and employment requirements as things continue to evolve over the next several months.
