Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, DOL NEWS—Semiannual regulatory agenda steps back from previous department priorities, (Sep 5, 2025)

By Brandi O. Brown, J.D.

The list includes over 100 items, including ones related to joint employer status, exemptions, and employee classification under the FLSA.

Yesterday, the Trump administration announced its Spring 2025 semiannual unified regulatory agenda, and the list includes over 100 line-items from the Department of Labor.

“Eliminating red tape and crafting smart regulations that spur job creation will bring us even closer to reaching the Golden Age of the American Worker. The Department of Labor is committed to helping President Trump and the entire Administration implement this bold regulatory agenda, which focuses on flexibility, transparency, and common-sense reform to ensure every hardworking family has a fair shot at achieving the American Dream,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer.

WHD and FLSA. Items making it to the current unified agenda include several overseen by the Wage and Hour Division. This includes two major and economically significant items.

Joint employer status under the FLSA. In the abstract, DOL describes this regulatory item as major and economically significant, identifying it as at the proposed rule stage. “Since 2021,” the abstract states, “the Department has had no regulatory guidance addressing joint employer liability under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The Department is considering a notice of proposed rulemaking to adopt regulations that would guide WHD's enforcement of FLSA joint employer liability, and help promote greater uniformity among court decisions nationwide.”

Employee or independent contractor classification. In this major, economically significant item at the proposed rule stage, DOL states that it will examine the circumstances under which a worker should be classified as an employee or independent contractor for the purpose of federal wage and hour requirements. The abstract states, “In 2024, the Department of Labor (Department) published a final rule providing an analysis for determining employee or independent contractor classification under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). See 89 FR 1638 (2024 IC Rule). The 2024 IC Rule took effect on March 11, 2024. However, the 2024 IC Rule is the subject of five separate legal challenges. The Department intends to rescind the 2024 IC rule and is considering how it will proceed with respect to independent contractor classification under the FLSA employee or under the FLSA.”

Other WHD items. Another item identified as falling in the proposed rule stage, which has already been the subject of an NPRM, is a set of regulations relating to the application of the FLSA to domestic service. Two recent rescission actions are also identified, involving rescission of regulations regarding right of first refusal under federal service contracts and rescission of regulations increasing the minimum wage for federal contractors.

OSHA items. There are nearly 40 items attributed to OSHA on the agenda. Some highlights include items relating to: heat injury and illness prevention in outdoor and indoor work settings and a tree care standard. However, here there are rescissions as well, which include rescissions of certain standards as well as certain coordinated enforcement regulations.

Another line item for OSHA is titled the OSHA Standards Improvement Project. It is described as follows:

“The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) OSHA's Standards Improvement Projects (SIPs) are intended to remove, modernize, or narrow duplicative, unnecessary, or overly burdensome regulatory provisions. The project examines multiple standards covering general industry, as well as maritime, construction, and agricultural industries. These actions will be deregulatory and / or burden reducing to covered employers. This rulemaking is consistent with the intent of Executive Order 14219 (Ensuring Lawful Governance and Implementing the President's "Department of Government Efficient Deregulatory Initiative) because the agency has good cause to believe that the existing regulations significantly and unjustifiably impede technological innovation and economic development. By modernizing the existing regulations, OSHA will allow increased productivity and reduce the regulatory burden on employers.”

ETA items. There are also several important items listed for the Employment and Training Administration within the Labor Department. They include these two items at the proposed rule stage:

1. Adverse effect wage rate methodology for the temporary employment of H-2A nonimmigrants in non-range occupations in the U.S. (RIN 1205-AC24). The department states that will consider updates to the methodology used to calculate the prevailing wage for H-2A workers.

2. H-2A temporary agricultural employment of foreign workers in nonimmigrant status (RIN 1205-AC25). The department proposes to rescind certain requirements adopted under the Biden administration for growers using the H-2A program for agricultural labor.

Items from other divisions and agencies. Finally, there are items from the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management (OASAM), and the Office of the Secretary (OS).

For example, EBSA has listed a rulemaking related to prudence and loyalty in selecting retirement plan investments and exercising shareholder rights (RIN 1210-AC37), which is at the final rule stage, under which the department will consider the extent to which fiduciaries may prioritize environmental, social, and governance factors in investment decisions. Specifically, it is in response to Executive Order 14219 and would revise the Department’s regulation at 29 CFR 2550.404a-1 so that plan fiduciaries select investments and exercise shareholder rights based only on financial considerations relevant to the risk-adjusted economic value of a particular investment, and not to advance social causes.

Long term actions. Relegated to the long-term actions list are nearly 30 items, including two items from the Wage and Hour Division (RIN 1235-AA39 and RIN 1235-AA47) relating to “Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales and Computer Employees.” Briefly, those items relate to regulations at 29 CFR part 541 define and delimit the exemption of executive, administrative, and professional (EAP) employees under section 13(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). On April 26, 2024, DOL issued a final rule to increase certain earnings thresholds in the Part 541 regulations, but the 2024 rule was subsequently vacated and DOL is applying the earnings thresholds set in its 2019 rule. DOL states that it is currently reviewing the 2024 rule and determining how to proceed.

One of the OSHA-related items on the long-term list relates to workplace violence in health care and social assistance.

“This regulatory agenda reflects our steadfast commitment to restoring economic opportunity by fostering innovation and reducing unnecessary burdens on employers,” said Deputy Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling. “By modernizing outdated rules and prioritizing clarity and efficiency, we’re building a more agile, worker-centered labor policy framework that fuels economic growth and prosperity. Under President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Labor is delivering the regulatory certainty that American workers and businesses need to thrive.”

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