New DOL Rulemaking Clarifies Overtime Exemption for Retail Employees

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a final rule on May 19, 2020, withdrawing past regulations related to overtime exemptions for retail employees. The withdrawal is designed to clarify and “promote consistent treatment” of the retail employee overtime exemption. In issuing this final rule, the DOL took the somewhat extraordinary step of doing so without notice or a comment period. The DOL explained that such a period is unnecessary because the Administrative Procedure Act does not require notice or comment for an “interpretive rule,” and the DOL’s withdrawn lists were mere “interpretive rules.”