The United States Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced its decision to once again issue Opinion Letters, Ruling Letters, Administrator Interpretations and Field Assistance Bulletins.  They will be published on the DOL website here, along with past opinions (pre-2009).  Interpretations by the DOL Administrator that interpret the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), Davis-Bacon Act (DBA) or Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act (PCA), are considered “official rulings”, and thus, provide employers with a good faith reliance defense when so relying. This guidance is very helpful when employers are trying to understand how to interpret the FLSA, DBA or PCA with various facts.

Often, numerous employers have the same questions of interpretation, and thus, opinion letters are very helpful when such common questions arise. The last opinion letters were published in January 2009, and withdrawn by the Obama Administration when the letters were literally not put in the mail in time before the administration changed. If you’d like to receive a notice when new rulings and interpretations come out, you can do so here.