As Secretary Alexander Acosta has settled into his position at the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), employers are seeing several new compliance initiatives. From the creation of the Office of Compliance Initiatives, to the six-month extension of the payroll audit independent determination pilot program, to the issuance of multiple new opinion letters and field assistance bulletins, the DOL and its wage and hour division (WHD) have been busy at work. Also on the horizon over the next several months, and of significant interest to employers, are proposed regulations regarding joint employment, the regular rate of pay and the salary threshold for the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA) “white-collar” exemptions.

New Office of Compliance Initiatives

In August, Acosta announced the creation of the DOL’s new “Office of Compliance Initiatives.” As part of this initiative, the DOL has launched worker.gov and employer.gov, two websites which provide compliance assistance to both the regulated community and workers. In its press release, the DOL announced that it “expects more effective compliance assistance will help the department target enforcement resources on repeat and willful violators to level the playing field for America’s job creators who abide by the law.”

PAID Program