The Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) issued six new opinion letters to clarify application of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
The FLSA opinion letters address: (1) whether an employee meets the learned professional exemption and if an employer may nonetheless reclassify the employee as non-exempt; (2) when certain bonus payments may be excluded from the regular rate of pay and how they must be treated when calculating overtime premiums; (3) whether mandatory pre-shift “roll call” time required by a collective bargaining agreement may be excluded from overtime calculations; and (4) how employers should apply the commissioned employee overtime exemption when state minimum wages exceed the federal minimum wage and whether tips count toward commission thresholds.
The FMLA opinion letter address: (1) how school closures of less than a full week affect FMLA leave usage for school employees; and (2) whether FMLA leave may cover time spent traveling to and from medical appointments when medical certification confirms the need for care but does not explicitly address travel time.