DOL’s to-do list for the rest of 2014: How it’ll impact Finance

Wondering what the DOL has up its sleeve for the remainder of 2014 – and how it’ll impact your Finance Department? Well, the agency recently offered a preview.

Here’s what the DOL listed as its priorities during the recent Semiannual Regulatory Agenda:

The Wage-and-Hour Division (WHD)

The WHD listed five action items, two of which were listed as long-term actions – in other words, the agency doesn’t have a projected date for when it may issue a proposed rule.

The good news is one of those long-term items is the “Right to Know” rule under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) – a rule would require employers to perform a written classification analysis for every exempt employee and share that info with all affected workers.

While it’s too soon to say the feds are abandoning the rule altogether, many benefits experts feel it’s headed in that direction.

In terms of the action items on the WHD’s priority to-do list, the agency listed three main items:

• Obama’s overtime reg overhaul: This was listed as “Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales, and Computer Employees.”
  President Obama ordered the DOL to amend the current overtime regs under the FLSA. And the DOL assigned a tentative date for when the proposed rules will be issued: November of this year.
• Revised definition of “spouse” under the FMLA: Following the Supreme Court’s Defense of Marriage Act decision, the agency promised to amend this definition to reflect the slew of federal benefits same-sex married couples are now entitled to receive. The WHD listed this proposed rule as “imminent.”
• Executive Order 13658: Raising the minimum wage for certain federal contractors. (Note: The DOL just released a proposed rule on this item.)

The EBSA

The main item on the Employee Benefits Security Administration’s (EBSA) agenda continues to be an expanded definition of fiduciary status under ERISA.

However, this has already been delayed several times and action may not be taken until after the November elections.

The EBSA also has plans to refine the existing fee-disclosure regs under ERISA. Specifically, it’ll focus on drafting enhanced disclosure requirements for target-date funds.

Finally, the DOL’s benefits division will focus on the fiduciary implications of self-directed investment (aka, “window”) accounts for the remainder of 2014 and into 2015.