There is widespread concern among in-house counsel over new wage-and-hour rules from the U.S. Department of Labor, according to a new survey.
The fifth annual “Executive Employer Survey,” released Tuesday by the law firm Littler Mendelson, found that 82 percent of respondents expect DOL enforcement to have an impact on their workplace over the next year. Although respondents completed the survey in the weeks before the release in May of the finalized Fair Labor Standards Act “white collar” overtime regulations that drastically increase the number of Americans who can qualify for overtime pay, 65 percent had already conducted audits to identify affected employees. The survey data was collected in April and May from more than 800 respondents, including in-house counsel, human resources and C-suite executives. About 41 percent of the responses came from the companies’ legal departments.
