On May 23 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published its final revisions to the overtime compensation regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The Final Rule makes changes to the regulations pertaining to the exemption for salaried executive, administrative, and professional employees (commonly known as the "white-collar" exemption). DOL Final Rule, Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales and Computer Employees, 81 Fed. Reg. 32,391 (May 23, 2016). Among other things, the Final Rule raises the standard salary threshold for the exemption from $455 a week ($23,660 a year) to $913 a week ($47,476 a year) for full-time employees and provides for automatic adjustments every three years based on the weekly earnings of the 40th percentile of full-time salaried workers in the lowest-wage Census region (currently the South). The Final Rule also increases the "highly compensated employee" (HCE) annual salary threshold from $100,000 to $134,004 for full-time employees and provides for three-year automatic adjustments based on the annualized weekly earnings of the 90th percentile of full-time salaried employees nationally. The Final Rule takes effect on December 1, 2016.

The Lawletter Vol. 41, No. 2

John Buckley, Senior Attorney, National Legal Research Group

     Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was amended by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act ("PDA") in 1978, which added the following language to Title VII's definitions subsection:

     The terms "because of sex" or "on the basis of sex" include, but are not limited to, because of or on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions; and women affected by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions shall be treated the same for all employment-related purposes[.]

42 U.S.C. § 2000e(k). It is generally agreed that the first clause specifies that Title VII's prohibition against sex discrimination also applies to discrimination based on "pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions." The meaning of the second clause, "or related medical conditions," has been the subject of debate and was directly addressed by the Supreme Court in this most recent case.

     In Young v. United Parcel Service, Inc., 135 S. Ct. 1338 (2015), the petitioner, Peggy Young, was a part-time driver for the respondent, United Parcel Service ("UPS"). Young became pregnant in 2006 and was placed on a 20-pound lifting restriction by her doctor. (UPS policy required drivers to be able to lift parcels weighing up to 70 pounds.) UPS failed to provide suitable accommodations, and as a result, Young was forced to take an unpaid leave of absence during most of the time she was pregnant, resulting in the loss of her employee medical coverage.