BILLING CODE: 4510-27-P DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Wage and …

[Pages:245]DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Wage and Hour Division 29 CFR Part 541 RIN 1235-AA20

BILLING CODE: 4510-27-P

Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales and Compute r Employees

AGENCY: Wage and Hour Division, Department of Labor.

ACTION: Final rule.

SUMMARY: T he Department of Labor is updating and revising the regulations issued under the

Fair Labor Standards Act implementing the exemptions from minimum wage and overtime pay

requirements for executive, administrative, professional, outside sales, and computer employees. DATES: T his final rule is effective on January 1, 2020.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Amy DeBisschop, Director, Division of

Regulations, Legislation, and Interpretation, Wage and Hour Division, U.S. Department of

Labor, Room S-3502, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20210; telephone: (202)

693-0406 (this is not a toll-free number). Copies of this final rule may be obtained in alternative

formats (Large Print, Braille, Audio T ape or Disc), upon request, by calling (202) 693 -0675 (this

is not a toll-free number). TTY/TDD callers may dial toll-free 1-877-889-5627 to obtain

information or request materials in alternative formats.

Questions of interpretation and/or enforcement of the agency's regulations may be

directed to the nearest WHD district office. Locate the nearest office by calling WHD's toll-free

help line at (866) 4US-WAGE ((866) 487-9243) between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. in your local time

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zone, or log onto WHD's website for a nationwide listing of WHD district and area offices at . SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Table of Contents I. Executive Summary II. Background A. The FLSA B. Re gulatory History C. Overview of Existing Regulatory Requirements D. The Department's Proposal E. Final Rule Effective Date III. Need for Rulemaking IV. Final Re gulatory Re visions A. Standard Salary Level B. Special Salary Tests C. Inclusion of Nondiscretionary Bonuses, Incentive Payments, and Commissions in

the Salary Level Requirement D. Highly Compensate d Employees E. Future Updates to the Earnings Thresholds V. Paperwork Reduction Act VI. Analysis Conducted In Accordance with Executive Order 12866, Regulatory

Planning and Review, and Executive Order 13563, Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review

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A. Introduction B. Methodology to Determine the Number of Potentially Affected EAP Workers C. Dete rmining the Revised Salary and Compensation Levels D. Effects of Revised Salary and Compensation Levels VII. Final Re gulatory Fle xibility Analysis (FRFA) A. Objectives of, and Need for, the Final Rule B. The Agency's Response to Public Comments C. Comment by the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business Administration D. Description of the Number of Small Entities to Which the Final Rule Will Apply E. Projected Reporting, Recordkeeping, and Other Compliance Requirements of the

Final Rule F. Ste ps the Age ncy Has Taken to Minimize the Significant Economic Impact on Small

Entitie s G. Identification, to the Extent Practicable, of all Relevant Federal Rules That May

Duplicate, Overlap, or Conflict with the Final Rule VIII. Unfunde d Mandate s Re form Act Analysis A. Authorizing Legislation B. Assessment of Costs and Benefits C. Response to Comments D. Least Burdensome Option or Explanation Required IX. Executive Order 13132, Federalism X. Executive Order 13175, Indian Tribal Governments Ame ndme nts to Re gulatory Te xt

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I. Executive Summary T he Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA or Act) requires covered employers to pay

employees a minimum wage and, for employees who work more than 40 hours in a week, overtime premium pay of at least 1.5 times the regular rate of pay. Section 13(a)(1) of the FLSA, commonly referred to as the "white collar" or "EAP" exemption, exempts from these minimum wage and overtime pay requirements "any employee employed in a bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacity." T he statute delegates to the Secret ary of Labor (Secretary) the authority to define and delimit the terms of the exemption. Since 1940, the regulations implementing the exemption have generally required each of the following three tests to be met : (1) the employee must be paid a predetermined and fixed salary that is not subject to reduction because of variations in the quality or quantity of work performed (the "salary basis test"); (2) the amount of salary paid must meet a minimum specified amount (the " salary level test"); and (3) the employee's job duties must primarily involve executive, administrative, or professional duties as defined by the regulations (the "duties test").

T he Department of Labor (Department) has long used the salary level test as a tool to help define the white collar exemption on the basis that employees paid less than the salary level are unlikely to be bona fide executive, administrative, or professional employees, and, conversely, that nearly all bona fide executive, administrative, and professional employees are paid at least that much. The salary level test provides certainty for employers and employees, as well as efficiency for government enforcement agencies. The salary level test's usefulness, however, diminishes as the wages of employees entitled to overtime increase and inflation reduces the real value of the salary threshold.

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T he Department increased the standard salary level from $455 per week ($23,660 per year) to $913 per week ($47,476 per year) in a final rule published May 23, 2016 (" 2016 final rule"). T hat rulemaking was challenged in court, and on November 22, 2016, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of T exas enjoined the Department from implementing and enforcing the rule. On August 31, 2017, the court granted summary judgment against the Department, invalidating the 2016 final rule because it "makes overtime status depend predominately on a minimum salary level, thereby supplanting an analysis of an employee's job duties." Nevada v. U.S. Dep't of Labor, 275 F. Supp. 3d 795, 806 (E.D. T ex. 2017). An appeal of that decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit is being held in abeyance. Currently, the Department is enforcing the regulations in effect on November 30, 2016, including the $455 per week standard salary level, which is the level that was set in a final rule issued April 23, 2004 (" 2004 final rule").

T aking into account the Nevada district court's conclusion with respect to the salary level, public comments received in response to a July 26, 2017 Request for Information (RFI), and feedback received at public listening sessions, the Department has undertaken this rulemaking to revise the part 541 regulations so that they effectively distinguish between the white collar employees whom Congress intended to be protected by the FLSA's minimum wage and overtime provisions and bona fide executive, administrative, and professional employees whom Congress intended to exempt from those statutory requirements.

T he Department published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on March 22, 2019. The NPRM stated that the standard salary level needed to exceed $455 per week to more effectively serve its purpose, but that the 2016 final rule's increase to $913 per week was inappropriate because it excluded from exemption 4.2 million employees whose duties would

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have otherwise qualified them for exemption, a result in significant tension with the text of

section 13(a)(1). Noting the conclusions of the district court that invalidated the 2016 final rule,

the Department explained that the 2016 final rule's inappropriately high salary level " untethered

the salary level test from its historical justification" of "[s]etting a dividing line between

nonexempt and potentially exempt employees" by screening out only those employees who,

based on their compensation level, are unlikely to be bona fide executive, administrative, or

professional employees. T o address the district court's and the Department's concern with the

2016 final rule and set a more appropriate salary level, the NPRM proposed to rescind the 2016

final rule and update the salary level by applying the same methodology as the 2004 final rule to

current earnings data.

In 2004, the Department set the standard salary level at $455 per week ($23,660 per

year), which was approximately the 20th percentile of full-time salaried workers in the South and in the retail industry nationally.1 Accordingly, in the NPRM, the Department proposed to update

the standard salary level to the 20th percentile of full-time salaried workers in the lowest -wage Census Region (the South2) and/or in the retail industry nationally using current data.3 T his

methodology resulted in a proposed standard salary level of $679 per week ($35,308 per year).

1 69 FR 22171. 2 T he South Census Region comprises the following: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, T ennessee, T exas, Virginia, and West Virginia. 3 In 2004, the Department looked to the 20th percentile of full-time salaried workers in the South and in the retail industry nationally to validate the standard salary level set in the final rule. In this final rule, the Department set the standard salary level at the 20th percentile of the combined subpopulations of full-time salaried employees in the South and full-time salaried employees in the retail industry nationwide. Accordingly, the use of "and/or" when describing the salary level methodology in this final rule reflects that this data set includes full-time salaried workers who work: (1) in the South but not in the retail industry; (2) in the ret ail industry but not in the South; and (3) in the South in the retail industry.

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Additionally, the Department proposed special salary levels for U.S. territories and an updated base rate for employees in the motion picture producing industry. T he Department also proposed to allow employers to count nondiscretionary bonuses and incentive payments toward satisfying up to ten percent of the standard salary level or any of the special salary levels applicable to U.S. territories, so long as such bonuses are paid at least annually. Further, the Department proposed to update the highly compensated employee (HCE) total annual compensation level--a higher compensation level that is paired with a reduced duties requirement to provide an alternative basis for exemption under section 13(a)(1). The HCE level was set at $100,000 in the 2004 final rule and increased to $134,004 in the 2016 final rule, but the Department has continued to enforce the $100,000 level in light of the district court's invalidation of the 2016 final rule. In the NPRM, the Department proposed to update the HCE level by setting it equal to the annualized value of the 90th percentile of weekly earnings of full-time salaried workers nationally, resulting in a level of $147,414 per year. The Department proposed to project both the standard salary level and HCE total annual compensation level to January 2020, the final rule's anticipated effective date. Finally, the Department explained its commitment to updat e the standard salary level and HCE total compensation levels more frequently in the future using notice-and-comment rulemaking every four years. T he Department proposed no changes to the standard duties tests.

T he 60-day comment period on the NPRM ended on May 21, 2019, and the Department received more than 116,000 comments. The vast majority of these comments, including tens of thousands of duplicate or similar submissions, were campaign comments using similar template

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language.4 After considering the comments, the Department has decided in this final rule to maintain the proposed methodology for updating the part 541 standard salary level, but not to inflate the salary level to January 2020. The Department is also finalizing the special salary levels for certain U.S. territories as proposed, and updating the base rate for employees in the motion picture producing industry. Additionally, the Department is finalizing its proposal to permit employers to count nondiscretionary bonuses, incentives, and commissions toward up to 10 percent of the standard salary level or the special salary levels applicable to the U.S. territories, so long as employers pay those amounts at least annually. The Department has also decided to set the HCE total annual compensation threshold equal to the 80 th percentile of earnings of full-time salaried workers nationally, without inflating the threshold to January 2020 . When applied to updated data, these methodologies result in a standard salary level of $684 per week ($35,568 per year) and an HCE total annual compensation level of $ 107,432. Finally, the Department intends to update these thresholds more regularly in the future.

T he Department estimates that in 2020, 1.2 million currently exempt employees who earn at least $455 per week but less than the standard salary level of $684 per week will, without some intervening action by their employers, gain overtime eligibility. The Department also estimates that an additional 2.2 million white collar workers who are currently nonexempt because they do not satisfy the EAP duties tests and currently earn at least $455 per week , but less than $684 per week, will have their overtime-eligible status strengthened in 2020 because these employees will now fail both the salary level and duties tests. Lastly, an estimated 101,800

4 Specifically, one organization submitted spreadsheets containing over 56,000 comments from individuals. Of the comments contained in this submission, more than 34,000 were duplicates of comments that were submitted separately by these individuals. Additionally, numerous individual comments associated with this campaign were submitted multiple times. T ogether, these comments make up the vast majority of the comments received.

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