Dive Brief:
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Last fall, the DOL's 2015 regulatory agenda said the agency was targeting a July 2016 release date for the final changes to the FLSA exemption overtime rule changes. But that timeline may need to be shortened, according to HR Morning.
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Quoting DOL Secretary Thomas Perez from a different interview, HR Morning reported that the agency is “confident [they'll] get a final rule out by spring 2016.” Based on that comment, the schedule may have already changed (though nothing else official has been released).
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HR Morning attributes the change to the Congressional Research Service, a branch of the Library of Congress that just released a report entitled, “Agency Final Rules Submitted After May 16, 2016, May Be Subject to Disapproval in 2017 Under the Congressional Review Act.” The report unveils a way that the next Congress and president may be able to invalidate the DOL’s changes to the FLSA exemption rule if they don’t arrive before May 16.
Dive Insight:
According to the article, the Congressional Review Act allows Congress to overturn “major” final rules offered up by federal agencies, which includes the DOL. Under the Act, changes to the FLSA exemption rules qualify as major.
As a result, Congress gets 60 legislative session days to crush any major rule. If the rule is submitted to Congress with fewer than 60 session days remaining on the legislative calendar, then the next Congress will have a similar 60-day period to consider the rule. Finally, the article says that the Congressional Research Service reports that if the DOL’s overtime rule isn’t released by May 16, the rule can be overturned by the next Congress and president.
Of course, there is a way President Obama can veto any Congressional action on the rule changes, but the article says the best chance to make FLSA rule changes untouchable is to release them prior to May 16.