Press Releases

Today, Workforce Protections Subcommittee Chairman Ryan Mackenzie (R-PA) delivered the following statement, as prepared for delivery, at a hearing titled "The Future of Wage Laws: Assessing the FLSA's Effectiveness, Challenges, and Opportunities":

"Good morning. Today we are here to examine critical reforms to modernize labor law, bringing more clarity to both workers and employers. At today’s hearing we will discuss what I hope is a bipartisan goal of bringing an important federal statute into the 21st century. 
 
"To this day, the Fair Labor Standards Act is the foundation of U.S. wage-and-hour laws. It was enacted during the New Deal Era to set the baseline for minimum wage, overtime, recordkeeping, and other federal requirements enforced by Department of Labor (DOL). Needless to say, the workforce has changed since 1938. It is long overdue for Congress to update this 87-year-old law so workers and businesses have the best opportunities to succeed. 
 
"During the Biden-Harris administration, we saw DOL strongarm workplaces into complying with burdensome rules and regulations that stifled innovation and set arbitrary standards, some of which even violated the Administrative Procedure Act, the cornerstone governing how federal agencies issue regulations. 
 
"For instance, the Biden-Harris administration’s unlawful overtime rule attempted to raise the salary threshold to be considered an exempt employee under the FLSA by a whopping 65 percent, with automatic increases every three years to boot. This rule threatened to restrict workplaces, limit professional development opportunities, and eliminate the flexible advantages exempt employees have. Moreover, the rule was estimated to cost businesses roughly $6,000 per affected employee, or $18.8 billion annually. 
 
"We also saw DOL under President Biden issue an unworkable, confusing, ABC-style worker classification test to determine which workers are employees and which are independent contractors. This rule limits the ability of as many as 70 million freelancers, rideshare drivers, and other independent workers to earn a living on terms they set for themselves. 
 
"The last four years we have seen excessive administrative rules outlining which tasks tipped workers can perform and limiting certain tasks to 20 percent of an employee’s workday, which is essentially impossible to monitor and enforce. Rules like this raise the question, if the government cannot enforce its own standard, what is the purpose of setting it?
 
"And finally, we saw the Wage and Hour Division abandon the Trump administration’s Payroll Audit Independent Determination program, which allowed workers to receive back wages owed faster and served as a tool for good-faith employers to self-report overtime and minimum wage violations. The Biden DOL unwisely decided to end this program and instead focused energy on cracking down on all job creators. 
 
"Thankfully, Americans will see relief from the Trump administration as it works to undo these damaging mandates. In order to bring lasting change to the FLSA, Committee Republicans are working on initiatives to empower workers and job creators. 
 
"Among many items for us to consider at today’s hearing are simple changes that modernize the FLSA, such as evaluating the methodology for overtime regular rate calculations which often discourage employers who wish to offer child care benefits to their employees. Today we will hear from witnesses about how nonexempt workers are often not giving the same voluntary professional development opportunities as exempt workers because of the FLSA’s definition of compensable time. Finally, we will discuss how employee status and independent contractor status should be clearly and concisely defined under the common-law standard."
 

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