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The energy industry has long been a source of high-skilled and well-paid jobs, many paying six figures per year to employees.

At the end of July, the Biden administration’s Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued a final rule, effective September 28, 2021, that will rescind the Trump administration’s “Joint Employer Status under the Fair Labor Standards Act” rule, first published in January 2020.

On April 27, 2021, President Biden issued an executive order (the “Order”) increasing the minimum wage for Federal Government contractors and subcontractors from $10.95 per hour to $15.00 per hour.

The Trump administration’s Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division (the “WHD”) published its final independent contractor rule on January 7, 2021, with a related effective date of March 8.

As many readers of this blog know, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) allows employees to sue for overtime and minimum wage violations on behalf of themselves and those “similarly situated” in a “collective action.”

President-elect Joe Biden has laid out a range of employment-related initiatives, including goals that could significantly impact labor law, immigration, government contracting, employee safety, wage and hour, and other matters that affect the workplace.

On September 22, 2020, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) released its long anticipated rule for evaluating independent contractor status under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), which provides a simpler framework for how businesses can lawfully classify workers as independent contractors rather than employees.

Earlier in 2020, we discussed the Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) four-factor test for determining whether an entity could be considered a “joint employer” of an individual even if it is not the entity that payrolls that individual.

Most employers reimburse their employees for money spent on meals, hotels and other expenses during work trips as business expenses, but few have given thought to reimbursing employees for employee costs incurred at home, including for internet, electricity, printer ink, etc., because those have traditionally been considered personal expenses.

As the consequences of COVID-19 and the economic downturn are being more widely felt, employers are increasingly forced to confront tough choices with respect to reduced schedules, employee furloughs and reductions in force.

Over the last two months, we have seen two new “Joint Employer” rules issued, the first in January, when the Department of Labor issued a new joint employer rule for Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) cases, previously discussed here.