Department of Labor proposes changes to OSHA employee representative regulations
On Aug. 29, the Department of Labor announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to revise regulations regarding who may be authorized to act as an employee representative to accompany Occupational Safety and Health Administration compliance officers during workplace inspections. Under federal law, employers and employees have the right to have a representative authorized by them to accompany OSHA officials during a workplace inspection. According to DOL, the proposed rule clarifies employees may authorize as their representative an employee or a nonemployee from a third party if the compliance officer determines the third party is reasonably necessary to conduct an effective inspection. The proposed changes also clarify third-party representatives are not limited to industrial hygienists or safety engineers and may be reasonably necessary because they have skills, knowledge or experience that can help with the compliance officer’s inspection. NRCA will review the proposed changes to the regulations and provide comments to OSHA based on member input. The public comment period is open until Oct. 30. View the proposed rule in the Federal Register.
Department of Labor proposes changes in overtime regulations
On Aug. 30, the Department of Labor announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would modify the regulations that govern which employees are exempt from receiving overtime compensation under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Among other changes, the proposal would increase the minimum annual salary threshold applicable to the FLSA overtime exemption to $55,068 from the current threshold of $35,568—a nearly 55% increase. The proposal also would implement automatic increases to the salary threshold every three years that would be tied to the 35th percentile of weekly earnings of full-time non-hourly employees in the lowest wage region of the U.S. Census. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is expected to be published in the Federal Register soon, and comments will be due 60 days after the publication date. NRCA will review the proposal and provide comments to the agency based on member input.
NLRB issues final union representation rule
On Aug. 24, the National Labor Relations Board announced it will issue a direct final rule that makes substantial changes to the procedures for conducting union representation elections. The rule effectively reverses changes made by the Trump administration in 2019, which had repealed a rule issued in 2014 by the Obama administration. As a result, the new regulation returns key union election procedures largely to what was in place between 2014 and 2019. According to the DOL, the rule is designed to reduce the time it takes for a union-organizing petition to be brought to a vote of the employees in contested elections and expedite the resolution of any post-election litigation. The final rule will take effect Dec. 26. View the final rule in the Federal Register.
