- within Employment and HR topic(s)
- with Senior Company Executives, HR and Finance and Tax Executives
- in United States
- with readers working within the Accounting & Consultancy industries
After briefly releasing — and then quickly withdrawing — its regulatory agenda last week, the Department of Labor (DOL) has republished its Spring 2025 unified agenda. According to the DOL's press release, the Spring 2025 agenda reflects a focus on transparency, deregulatory actions, and clarifying employer obligations across a range of labor and employment issues. Several initiatives are directly tied to recent executive orders and court decisions, with a mix of new rulemakings and long-term reviews. The full agenda can be viewed here.
Highlights mentioned in the press release include:
1. Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) Fee Disclosure
The DOL is prioritizing increased transparency regarding the compensation that PBMs receive from employer-sponsored health plans. Consistent with President Trump's April 15 Executive Order aimed at lowering drug prices, the DOL will explore regulatory options to ensure employers and plan sponsors have clear information about direct and indirect PBM fees.
2. Transparency in Coverage
The DOL is considering additional measures to enhance market transparency, particularly regarding pricing and cost-sharing information, to enable consumers to make more informed decisions about their healthcare coverage.
3. Retirement Plan Fiduciary Duties: ESG Factors
The DOL will review the extent to which retirement plan fiduciaries may consider environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors when selecting investments and exercising shareholder rights. This could impact how plan sponsors approach investment decisions and practices.
4. Heat Injury and Illness Prevention
The DOL is developing standards to address heat-related injuries and illnesses in both outdoor and indoor work environments. The proposed standard would clarify employer obligations and outline specific protective measures, moving beyond reliance on the General Duty Clause. Public comments will be solicited to ensure the final rule is effective, feasible, and evidence based. No target date has been set for finalization.
5. OSHA Standards Improvement Projects
The agenda includes ongoing efforts to streamline and modernize OSHA standards across various industries, including general industry, maritime, construction, and agriculture. These projects aim to remove duplicative or overly burdensome requirements, with a focus on deregulatory and burden-reducing actions.
6. Joint Employer Status under the FLSA
The DOL is considering new regulatory guidance on when a business may be deemed a joint employer under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The department has not issued such guidance since 2021 and anticipates a notice of proposed rulemaking in December. The goal is to guide enforcement and promote uniformity in court decisions.
7. Employee or Independent Contractor Classification
The DOL plans to revisit the criteria for classifying workers as employees or independent contractors under the FLSA. The department intends to rescind the Biden-era rule and issue a new notice of proposed rulemaking this month, signaling a deregulatory approach. In the interim, the DOL is following the approach set forth in Fact Sheet #13 (July 2008), as further informed by Opinion Letter FLSA 2025-2.
8. FLSA Exemptions for White Collar Employees
The DOL is reviewing the rules that define exemptions from minimum wage and overtime for executive, administrative, professional, outside sales, and computer employees. This item is on the "long term action" agenda, indicating lower priority. The department is currently applying the 2019 earnings thresholds and reviewing the vacated 2024 rule.
9. H-2A Wage Rate and Program Requirements
The DOL is considering updates to the methodology for calculating prevailing wages for H-2A agricultural workers and proposes to rescind certain requirements from the Biden administration that have been challenged in court. These changes are intended to reduce burdens on agricultural employers.
10. Unemployment Insurance Fraud Prevention
The DOL announced the creation of a national database to combat unemployment insurance fraud, permanently expanding Labor's access to confidential claimant data. This initiative is tied to President Trump's March 20 Executive Order on eliminating information silos to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
