DOL Issues Guidance On Joint Employment

The U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division weighed in last week on the hot topic of joint employment, issuing an Administrative Interpretation entitled "Joint employment under the Fair Labor Standards Act and Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act." This new interpretive guidance takes an expansive view of the types of business arrangements that may result in companies being classified as joint employers and discusses the two general scenarios in which joint employment may arise under federal wage and hour laws.

Background

The DOL's latest guidance is crucial for businesses because when an employee has more than one employer, "the employee's hours worked for all of the joint employers during the workweek are aggregated and considered as one employment, including for purposes of calculating whether overtime pay is due." Moreover, "when joint employment exists, all of the joint employers are jointly and severally liable for compliance" with