[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 110 (Monday, June 8, 2020)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 34969-34970]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-11979]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Wage and Hour Division

29 CFR Part 541

RIN 1235-AA20


Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, 
Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales and Computer Employees; 
Correction

AGENCY: Wage and Hour Division, Department of Labor.

ACTION: Final rule; technical correction and correcting amendments.

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SUMMARY: On September 27, 2019, the Department of Labor published in 
the Federal Register a final rule updating and revising the regulations 
issued under the Fair Labor Standards Act implementing the exemptions 
from minimum wage and overtime pay requirements for executive, 
administrative, professional, outside sales, and computer employees. 
This final rule was effective on January 1, 2020. Through publication 
of this document, the Department corrects certain regulatory text.

DATES: This rule is effective June 8, 2020.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Amy DeBisschop, Director, Division of 
Regulations, Legislation, and Interpretation, Wage and Hour Division, 
U.S. Department of Labor, Room S-3502, 200 Constitution Avenue NW, 
Washington, DC 20210, telephone: (202) 693-0406 (this is not a toll-
free number).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department of Labor published a final 
rule in the Federal Register on September 27, 2019 titled, Defining and 
Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, 
Outside Sales and Computer Employees. 84 FR 51230. Due to an error in 
the instructions for amending 29 CFR 541.601 (Highly compensated 
employees), the final rule erroneously deleted regulatory text of Sec.  
541.601(b)(3) and (4) (page 51307), when the Department's intent was 
only to revise Sec.  541.601(b)(1) and (2), but to leave paragraphs 
(b)(3) and (4) unchanged. The Department restores these two provisions 
in this correction. Further, the Department here deletes Sec.  541.607 
(Automatic updates to amounts of salary and compensation required), 
which should have been deleted in the final rule. In the Notice of 
Proposed Rulemaking, the Department proposed to delete Sec.  541.607, 
while affirming its intention to propose increasing the earnings 
thresholds every four years. 84 FR 10900, 10915 (Mar. 22, 2019). In the 
final rule the Department declined to finalize its proposal to propose 
updates quadrennially, and instead reaffirmed its commitment to better 
implement Congress's instruction to define and delimit the EAP 
exemptions ``from time to time'' through regulations. 84 FR 51252 
(citing 29 U.S.C. 213(a)(1)). However, due to an error, the Department 
failed to remove and reserve the regulatory text section in the 
instructions. The Department corrects these errors with this action.
    Section 553(b)(3) of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) 
provides that an agency is not required to publish a notice of proposed 
rulemaking and solicit public comments when the agency has good cause 
to find that doing so would be ``impracticable, unnecessary, or 
contrary to the public interest.'' 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(3). The Department 
finds that good cause exists to dispense with the notice and public 
comment procedures for this correction to its regulations, as it 
concludes that such procedures are unnecessary because this rule merely 
corrects inadvertent errors in regulatory instructions. Section 553(d) 
of the APA also provides that substantive rules should take effect not 
less than 30 days after the date they are published unless ``otherwise 
provided by the agency for good cause found[.]'' 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3). 
Since this rule is a correction that does not change the substance of 
the Department's regulations, the Department finds that it is 
unnecessary to delay the effective date of the rule. Therefore, the 
Department is issuing this correction as a final rule effective on the 
date of publication.

List of Subjects in 29 CFR Part 541

    Labor, Minimum wages, Overtime pay, Salaries, Teachers, Wages.

    For the reasons set out in the preamble, the Department of Labor 
corrects 29 CFR part 541 by making the following correcting amendments:

PART 541--DEFINING AND DELIMITING THE EXEMPTIONS FOR EXECUTIVE, 
ADMINISTRATIVE, PROFESSIONAL, COMPUTER AND OUTSIDE SALES EMPLOYEES

0
1. The authority citation for part 541 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 29 U.S.C. 213; Pub. L. 101-583, 104 Stat. 2871; 
Reorganization Plan No. 6 of 1950 (3 CFR, 1945-53 Comp., p. 1004); 
Secretary's Order 01-2014 (Dec. 19, 2014), 79 FR 77527 (Dec. 24, 
2014).

0
2. In Sec.  541.601, add paragraphs (b)(3) and (4) to read as follows:


Sec.  541.601  Highly compensated employees.

* * * * *
    (b) * * *
    (3) An employee who does not work a full year for the employer, 
either because the employee is newly hired after the beginning of the 
year or ends the employment before the end of the year, may qualify for 
exemption under this section if the employee receives a pro rata 
portion of the minimum amount established in paragraph (a) of this 
section, based upon the number of weeks that the employee will be or 
has been employed. An employer may make one final payment as under 
paragraph (b)(2) of this section within one month after the end of 
employment.
    (4) The employer may utilize any 52-week period as the year, such 
as a calendar year, a fiscal year, or an anniversary of hire year. If 
the employer does not identify some other year period

[[Page 34970]]

in advance, the calendar year will apply.
* * * * *


Sec.  541.607  [Removed and Reserved]

0
3. Remove and reserve Sec.  541.607.

    Signed at Washington, DC, this 29th day of May, 2020.
Cheryl M. Stanton,
Administrator, Wage and Hour Division.
[FR Doc. 2020-11979 Filed 6-5-20; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4510-27-P