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Turns out that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) borrowed a page out of the private sector and reclassified employees as exempt when they should've remained non-exempt employees eligible for overtime pay--a clear violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
Affected employees didn't like being awarded comp time instead of time-and-a-half and filed a complaint; an arbitrator has just ruled in their favor. EEOC Chairman Stuart J. Ishimaru mumbled something employees' working too many flexible schedules and promised to look into matters. I didn't read anything about back pay's being awarded, however.
Meanwhile, the EEOC recently relocated to a new building in an area north of Union Station that isn't as, well, developed as the old location, and employees are sick over the move--literally.
Seems that the new building has a formaldehyde leakage problem, and it's causing people headaches, dizziness, nausea, coughing and breathing problems. Tests show that the level of formaldehyde is well below OSHA standards, so maybe it's the lack of trendy restaurants in the area that's really causing the problems.
Nothing that a good, long lunch on comp time couldn't remedy.
Practical articles on HR, Safety, compliance, and people operations—written for real businesses, not legal textbooks.
U.S. Department of Labor Officially Restores Prior Overtime Exemption Rules
On May 14th, 2026, the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced it has officially rescinded the 2024 overtime exemption rules. Specifically, the WHD published a technical amendment to restore previous 2019 regulations that dictated overtime exemptions for...
NLRB General Counsel Takes Action to Tackle Current Case Backlog
On May 6th, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and NLRB General Counsel Crystal Stowe Carey announced the bulk transfer of thousands of labor practice cases. Specifically, this action fulfills an initiative signed by the NLRB General Counsel earlier this year. Overall, the initiative...
Privacy Agency Invites Comments from Businesses on the CCPA’s Usage of Personal Data
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DOL Proposes New Joint Employer Rule To Unify Standards Under Federal Labor Laws
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