The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, which is tasked with enforcement of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act, issued three new opinion letters on January 6, 2020.
The first, FLSA2020-1, addresses how employers must include nondiscretionary bonus payments in a non-exempt employee’s regular rate of pay when calculating overtime compensation. For example, if an employee receives a quarterly production bonus, that bonus should be allocated equally among each of the thirteen weeks in the quarter. In any week during the quarter in which the employee worked overtime, the employer must pay additional overtime based on increase to the employee’s regular rate during that week by virtue of the bonus.
The second opinion letter, FLSA2020-2, addressed the permissibility of certain payments to educational consultants who provide services to schools and school districts throughout the country.
Finally, the third letter, FMLA2020-1-A, provided an opinion as to when two agencies of the same State or local government constitute the same public agency for purposes of determining the eligibility of public employees under the Family and Medical Leave Act.
Copies of the opinion letters are available here. Employers with questions about their obligations under the Fair Labor Standards Act or the Family and Medical Leave Act should confer with labor and employment counsel.