Employer Law Blog

Last year, the Department of Labor published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking signaling a drastic impending change to the salary threshold requirement for employers to classify certain jobs as exempt from overtime and minimum wage. Since that time, we have been working with clients on workforce analysis and planning, including budget forecasting, to determine the best and most cost-efficient way to adapt to the changes to come.

On April 27th Congress passed the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (S.1890 (DTSA) and sent it to President Obama, who has indicated he will sign it into law. Employers will now be able to utilize federal courts and new remedies to protect themselves against the theft of trade secrets and illegal competition. This allows trade secret holders the option of going directly to federal court—with its certainty of rules, standards, and practices—and avoiding the potential uncertainty and delay of busier state courts.

To be classified as an employee exempt from overtime, an employee must perform certain exempt duties and responsibilities, such as those customarily performed by an executive, professional or administrative employee. In addition to performing the requisite managerial duties, an employer is required to pay the individual a minimum guaranteed weekly salary. If the employee does not receive this minimum weekly salary, the employee is treated as an hourly employee, regardless of their duties, and must be paid overtime for all hours worked in excess of 40 hours during the workweek.

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While ERISA has long regulated employer provided group health insurance plans, it had never in the past dictated which employees should be eligible to receive health insurance. When Congress enacted the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2013 (“ACA”), it required for the first time that an employer provide health insurance to all employees who work on average at least 30 hours a week. The failure to cover all eligible employees, as now defined by the ACA, would subject employers either to the increased expense for having to provide affordable health insurance to a greater percentage of employees than in the past or to the “employer mandate” financial penalties.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits covered employers from making employment decisions based on an individual’s sex/gender. This year, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Department of Labor (DOL) and President Obama continued the ongoing efforts to expand employment protection to transgender workers.