The Department of Labor issued an opinion letter finding that employees who work for employers who are connected may be entitled to overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). There have been several updates issued by the Trump Administration concerning the H-1B visa. Effective October 1st, the Wage and Hour Division will only accept electronic payments. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration provides interpretive letters designed to provide guidance to employers.
DOL Issues Joint Employment Opinion Letter – The Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor (DOL) issued a wage-hour opinion letter concerning joint employment under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Opinion letters represent the position of DOL on the issues raised by those requesting the letters. The opinion letter 2025-05, noted that horizontal joint employment may occur where employers “are sufficiently associated with respect to the employment of the particular employee(s).” Where horizontal joint employment exists, the total number of hours worked by an employee in a workweek must be added together and each employer is “jointly and severally liable for any wages owed under the FLSA.
An employee who works at a restaurant was offered shifts at a membership club, both of which are located in a hotel. The employee was told that the same rate of pay would be provided for any work done at the club. While the entities have separate business structures, they share a kitchen, offer similar food and beverages, operate under similar trade names. and have common ownership. Several employees perform work for both entities in the same workweek.
If the employee who requested the letter worked at both the restaurant and club, the number of hours worked in a week would exceed 40 hours. The employee was told that overtime would not be provided since these were separate entities. The Wage and Hour Division concluded “that all of the hours that you work each workweek at the restaurant and the members club must be combined for the purposes of FLSA compliance, and that you should be paid the overtime premium in accordance with the FLSA for hours worked over 40 in a workweek.”
H-1B Visa Update – The Trump Administration has increased the fee for those individuals seeking to obtain an H-1B visa to $100,000 from $2,000 to $5,000. The new fee applies prospectively to those visa petitions filed starting on September 21, 2025. The H-1B visa allows employers to bring highly educated professionals to work temporarily in the United States in specialty occupations. The jobs require at least a bachelor’s degree or equivalent. There is a cap of 65,000 H-1B visas per year, with an additional 20,000 visas for those who graduate with a master’s degree or doctorate from a U.S. college. According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the H-1B visa was created by Congress to “help U.S. employers obtain the temporary employees they need to meet their business needs to remain competitive in the global economy.” The cap on the number of visas issued annually was designed to address the concern that “a surplus of foreign labor could depress wages for all workers in the long run.”
DHS also issued a proposed regulation changing the selection process for the H-1B visa. The proposed regulation would modify the process from a random selection to one that is weighted based on the wages to be paid and would favor the allocation of the visas to higher skilled and higher paid individuals. Four wage levels would be created based on the wages that a beneficiary would receive. The higher the wages, the more entries that would be provided in the selection pool. Wage level 1 would receive one entry into the selection pool, wage level 2 would receive two entries, wage level 3 would receive 3 entries, and wage level 4 would receive 4 entries. Comments on the proposed regulation are due by October 24, 2025.
The Department of Labor (DOL) launched Project Firewall, which is an H-1B visa enforcement initiative designed to ensure that employers give priority to qualified Americans when hiring workers and that employers are held accountable for abuses of the H-1B visa process. The goal of the program according to Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer is to “ensure that highly skilled jobs go to Americans first.”
DOL intends to undertake investigations of employers to maximize H-1B visa program compliance. The Secretary of Labor for the first time will certify the initiation of investigations. According to DOL, where violations are discovered, back wages, civil monetary penalties, and/or debarment from future use of the H-1B program for a specific amount of time could result. DOL’s Office of Immigration Policy, Employment and Training Administration, and Wage and Hour Division will lead this effort in collaboration with other federal agencies including the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The Wage and Hour Division provides H-1B visa compliance assistance resources for employers.
Wage Hour Division Will Only Accept Electronic Payments – The Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the Department of Labor (DOL) announced that effective October 1st, it will only accept electronic payments from employers that are sent via www.pay.gov. On March 25th, President Trump issued Executive Order 14247, Modernizing Payments to and From America’s Bank Account that set a September 30th deadline for the federal government to switch to electronic payments and disbursements. Back wages and liquidated damages will only be paid beginning October 1st through the Department of Treasury’s Digital Pay or Treasury’s US Debit Card program.
OSHA Provides Letters of Interpretation – The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issues letters of interpretation that provide OHSA’s interpretation of its statute, standards, and regulations. The letters are designed to assist employers to comply with OSHA requirements and are posted on OSHA’s website. Information about how to request a letter is also available.
Neil Reichenberg is the former executive director of the International Public Management Association for Human Resources. He is an attorney, a frequent writer and speaker on public policy and human resource issues, and an adjunct faculty member at George Mason University. For questions or additional information, contact Reichenberg at neilreichenberg@yahoo.com.
