UPDATE ON DOL WAGE AND HOUR REGULATIONS

July 11, 2003

By Horace A. (Topper) Thompson III

Last week we advised you in an E-News to contact your representative to avoid a vote to derail a positive regulatory reform being undertaken by the Bush Administration. Late yesterday, the House voted 213-210 to defeat a provision aimed at derailing the U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) efforts to modernize 50-year old regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The vote will allow the Bush administration to clarify DOL regulations used to define exemptions from overtime pay for executive, administrative and professional "white-collar" employees. For a complete update and status of the proposal, click on www.restaurant.org/pressroom/pressrelease.cfm?ID=695

Congratulations to our client, the Louisiana Restaurant Association, for the lobbying effort made by the LRA and the National Restaurant Association to reduce the overtime obligations of many small employers.

Horace A. (Topper) Thompson III is a Shareholder in the Firm's Labor and Employment Law Group. Topper may be contacted at 228-864-3094 or you may e-mail him at tthompson@watkinsludlam.com.