Secretary of Labor Acosta Withdraws Two Controversial Obama-Era Wage and Hour “Administrator Interpretations”

Just one month after being sworn in as the new secretary of labor, Alexander Acosta has withdrawn two controversial Obama-era guidance documents dealing with wage and hour compliance.  When issued in 2015 and 2016 by then-Wage and Hour Administrator David Weil, the so-called administrator interpretations (AIs) broadly construed both who is an employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the concept of joint employment under the law.

Although the AIs did not actually alter employers’ legal obligations under the FLSA, they clearly signaled the Wage and Hour Division’s (WHD) expansive interpretation of FLSA coverage and the agency’s intent to enforce that interpretation.

Similarly, although the withdrawal of the Weil AIs again does not alter employers’ obligations under the FLSA, it is nevertheless significant because it signals that the Trump Administration’s WHD does not embrace the prior administration’s expansive theories of FLSA coverage and will not attempt to enforce them.

Members of the Equal Employment Advisory Council (EEAC) can read more here.