Division of Fair Labor Standards

The Solicitor's Fair Labor Standards (FLS) Division is responsible for providing legal services in connection with the U.S. Department of Labor's administration and enforcement of a broad range of Federal labor standards laws providing basic protections for the Nation's workforce. These include:

• The minimum wage, overtime pay, child labor, and break time for nursing mothers provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act;
• Prevailing wages for workers on federal contracts under the Service Contract Act and Davis-Bacon and Related Acts;
• Various worker protections afforded to temporary foreign workers, including workers with H visas;
• Leave entitlement and job protections under the Family and Medical Leave Act;
• Wage and working condition protections for farm workers under the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Workers Protection Act (MSPA);
• Numerous laws protecting whistleblowers; and
• Various other laws providing basic labor protections to workers.

The Division is primarily responsible for appellate litigation, as well as for the preparation of regulations, interpretations, and opinions pertaining to these statutes, and otherwise advising the Solicitor, the Wage and Hour Division and the Directorate of Whistleblower Protection Programs in the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on these matters.

Accomplishments

• Provided extensive legal advice and drafting assistance in major rulemakings, such as:
  • Revising the Department's guidance for analyzing whether a worker is a employee or an independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act to help reduce the risk of misclassification of employees who are entitled to protections under the Act as independent contractors and;
  • Revising the regulations implementing the prevailing wage requirements of the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts (DBRA), which establish prevailing wage requirements for federal and federally assisted construction projects and which had not been comprehensively updated in nearly 40 years., in order to enhance the administration and enforcement of the DBRA in the modern economy.
• Represent the Secretary in complex, significant appellate litigation, such as:
• Successfully assisted the Solicitor General's Office in convincing the U.S. Supreme Court that an employee in a Sarbanes-Oxley Act whistleblower case does not need to prove that the employer acted with retalitory intent or animus; the employee need only show that protected whistleblowing was a contributing factor in the adverse action against the employee.
• Successfully convinced the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, as amicus, that an employer unlawfully retaliated against an employee in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act when the employee  on a new project because the employee was about to join an FLSA collective action arising out of work on a prior project (Uronis v. Cabot Oil & Gas Co. Brief).
• Successfully convinced the Department of Labor's administrative appellate tribunal, the Administrative Review Board, that a traveling amusement carnival that employed temporary foreign workers under the H-2B visa program violated its obligations under the program by employing the workers in job positions for which the employer had not obtained approval and which required a higher wage, resulting in back wages being awarded to the workers and civil money penalties being assessed against the employer (Administrator v. Butler Amusements Brief).

What We Do

The Division's attorneys handle:

• Appellate litigation, including:
  • Appeals before administrative bodies or in federal courts stemming from agency enforcement actions (brought at the trial level by our colleagues in the regional offices);
  • Proposing and writing amicus briefs in cases concerning important labor standards and whistleblower protection issues; and
  • Oral arguments before the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal.
• Regulation writing and review including writing new regulations after new laws are passed and updating existing regulations to reflect changes in the workplace;
• Legislative activities, such as reviewing or assisting in the drafting of proposed legislation and Congressional testimony that implicates labor standards or whistleblower protections; and
• Legal advice on a variety of issues related to labor standards and whistleblower protection, including:
  • Agency policies;
  • Interpretation of law;
  • Enforcement initiatives;
  • Internal guidance to investigators, and
  • Materials for employees and employers to assist them in understanding their rights and responsibilities under the labor standards and whistleblower laws within the Division's responsibility.

Staff attorneys generally engage in all the functions of the Division across statutory areas and types of legal work. They normally receive assignments from each of the Division's counsels, senior attorneys with expertise in certain areas, and sometimes directly from the Associate or Deputy Associate Solicitor. There is limited travel, usually averaging one or two overnight trips per year.

DOL Agencies Supported

• Wage and Hour Division (WHD)
• Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA), Directorate of Whistleblower Protection Programs

Contact Information

200 Constitution Ave NW
Room N-2716
Washington, DC 20210

202-693-5555
202-693-5689 (fax)

Published Legal Briefs