DOL Update – New Compliance Office and Wage & Hour Opinion Letters

By Kamer Zucker Abbott

September 11, 2018

On August 28, 2018, the Department of Labor (DOL) announced the creation of a new “Office of Compliance Initiatives (OCI)” that is designed to “promote greater understanding of federal labor laws and regulations, allowing job creators to prevent violations and protect Americans' wages, workplace safety and health, retirement security, and other rights and benefits.”  

As a part of this initiative, two new websites have been created: worker.gov to provide a “centralized base of information focused on federal worker protections” and employer.gov to provide employers with “easy-to-understand information about their responsibilities under federal laws and regulations.”

The DOL also released six new wage and hour opinion letters on the following topics:

•    Organ donors' qualification for FMLA leave
•    Compensability of time spent voluntarily attending benefit fairs and certain wellness activities
•    Application of the movie theater overtime exemption to a movie theater that also offers dining services
•    Application of the commissioned sales employee overtime exemption to a company that sells an internet payment software platform
•    Volunteer status of nonprofit members serving as credentialing examination graders
•    "No-fault" attendance policies and roll-off of attendance points under the FMLA.

An opinion letter is an official, written opinion by the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division on how a particular law applies in specific circumstances presented by the person or entity requesting the letter.

Employers can search for opinion letters on specific topics by using this link. If you have questions about a specific opinion letter, please contact a KZA attorney.