On January 29, the US Department of Labor (DOL) issued a press release announcing the immediate end of its Payroll Audit Independent Determination program launched by the Department’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) in 2018.
As we previously reported, the program allowed employers to self-report federal minimum wage and overtime violations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to avoid litigation, penalties or damages, and prohibited affected workers from taking any private action on the identified violations.
When the program was first announced on March 6, 2018, the WHD stated that “the program's primary objectives are to resolve such claims expeditiously and without litigation, to improve employers' compliance with overtime and minimum wage obligations, and to ensure that more employees receive the back wages they are owed—faster.” However, in announcing the end of the program, WHD’s Principal Deputy Administrator Jessica Looman said that “[t]he . . . program deprived workers of their rights and put employers that play by the rules at a disadvantage. The [DOL] will rigorously enforce the law, and we will use all the enforcement tools we have available.”
This move is not a surprise. In his labor agenda, President Biden made it clear that he wanted to end all forms of so-called “wage theft.” This is yet another signal that the DOL intends to strictly enforce the FLSA.
