New Administration

With each new administration, we can expect changes in federal labor and employment laws. In February, I will attend the Federal Labor Standards Legislative Committee meeting of the American Bar Assocation, where high ranking officials of Department of Labor will discuss the future of wage and hour laws. Stay tuned. In the meantime, here is a statement from the committee that might be of interest:

With Barack Obama's inauguration next month, our Committee anticipates that change will be coming in the area of employment and labor law. Minimum wage, overtime pay, hours of work, enforcement, exempt/non-exempt regulatory changes, Family Medical Leave Act regulations and coverage expansion, and Ledbetter, all issues within this Committee's jurisdiction, are likely to receive significant attention in the next four years. The Wage and Hour Division will certainly continue to issue opinion letters, with different emphases and, likely, different outcomes in some of the more controversial areas. In the context of the explosion in wage/hour class action litigation across the country, the changes at the Labor Department and in statutory/regulatory law could have far reaching impacts for both employers and employees.

These issues will be explored in depth at the Committee's midwinter meeting in Los Cabos, Mexico, February 18-20, 2009. Although the new Secretary of Labor has yet to be named, the Committee will have knowledgeable representatives from the Department of Labor and other agencies who can speak on issues within our Committee's jurisdiction including issues that the Obama Administration will take on in the Wage and Hour context.