New Trump DOL Opinion Letters Clarify Overtime, Bonus Standards

The US Department of Labor issued six opinion letters on calculating overtime, bonus pay, and other standards under the Fair Labor Standards Act and Family and Medical Leave Act.

In opinion letters published Monday, the DOL said that employers must include some union-negotiated time when calculating overtime, cannot deduct school employees’ federally protected medical leave due to weatherclosures, and cannot exclude certain bonuses from workers’ base pay, among others.

The agency uses opinion letters to demonstrate how labor laws should apply in a specific situation in response to a request from a business. The Biden administration shied away ...