Wage and Hour Highlights

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Links to WHD Highlights from Previous Years: 2007 2006 2005

2007

December 27, 2007

In a record-breaking year, WHD collected more than $220 million in back wages for over 341,000 employees in fiscal year 2007. Back wage collections exceeded the record levels collected in fiscal year 2003 by 3.8 percent. The agency concluded 30,467 compliance actions and assessed over $10.3 million in civil money penalties. 2007 Statistics

October 31, 2007

The Wage and Hour Division will host the Prevailing Wage Conference 2008 on January 8-10 in New Orleans , Louisiana . The conference will address issues associated with the administration and enforcement of the Davis-Bacon Act, McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act, and Fair Labor Standards Act. If you are interested in attending, please email your name, title, organization, email address, and telephone number to pwc2008@dol.gov. There is no fee for attending this conference, but space is limited. Upon receipt of this information, we will advise you whether your request can be accommodated.

July 3, 2007

A revised Federal minimum wage poster, reflecting the recently enacted minimum wage increases, is now available for viewing, downloading, and posting. Every employer of employees subject to the Fair Labor Standard Act’s minimum wage provisions must post, and keep posted, a notice explaining the Act in a conspicuous place in all of their establishments so as to permit employees to readily read it. Additional posters and compliance assistance materials will be available in the coming weeks.

June 27, 2007

The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division published a Report on the comments received in response to the Request for Information on the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The Federal Register Notices and related documents are also available on Wage and Hour’s website.

June 14, 2007

The U.S. Department of Labor announced the cancellation of Industry Committee No. 27, which was convened on May 10, 2007 and was scheduled to meet later this month. The Committee was discharged following enactment of the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’ Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act of 2007, which amends the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and removes the Labor Department’s authority to convene American Samoa Industry Committees.

June 1, 2007

On May 25, President Bush signed a spending bill that, among other things, amended the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to increase the federal minimum wage in three steps: to $5.85 per hour effective July 24, 2007 ; to $6.55 per hour effective July 24, 2008 ; and to $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009 . A separate provision of the bill brings about phased increases to the minimum wage in the CNMI and American Samoa, with the goal of bringing the minimum wage in those locations up to the general federal minimum wage over several years. Additional materials will be available at this site in the coming weeks.

May 22, 2007

Effective June 1, 2007 a new health and welfare fringe benefit rate will be implemented on all Service Contract Act Wage Determinations. The Wage and Hour Division has issued an All Agency Memorandum (HTML, PDF) announcing this update.

May 8, 2007

The Overtime Calculator elaws Advisor is an Internet-based, interactive learning tool designed to assist workers and small businesses in understanding overtime principles by calculating overtime payment for a sample pay period using certain primary pay and additional pay methods. The Overtime Calculator is a practical learning tool that provides examples of how overtime should be computed under some-but not all-scenarios. It will calculate overtime for a sample pay period, based on information submitted by the users, and will not replace actual payroll computations. Press Release.

April 17, 2007

The Wage and Hour Division published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) and an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) to update the youth employment regulations for the 21st Century. The current proposals strengthen youth employment regulations to protect against workplace hazards, expand youth workplace opportunities that have been judged safe and permissible, update regulations to better reflect the modern workplace, and address recommendations from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to the hazardous occupations orders. Interested parties are encouraged to submit comments for both the NPRM and ANPRM on or before July 16, 2007 . The Federal Register Notices, instructions and related documents are available at Wage and Hour’s Youth Employment Comments Website.

April 04, 2007

The Wage and Hour Division will sponsor a series of free H-1B information seminars across the country. These seminars will assist H-1B employers and others in understanding and complying with the H-1B program requirements, application procedures, and worker protections. Detailed information on these outreach events is available on Wage and Hour’s H-1B outreach event webpage.