Every entry below is dated, sourced, and tagged to the issues it affects — the same entries that power the "litigation & rulemaking watch" strips on the issue briefs. Subscribe by Atom feed to get additions as they're published.
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Major Seven new audit and planning tools launch on this site#
The tools library grows from three calculators to ten interactive tools: a stacked Workweek Compliance Auditor (federal + state + city + hotel-ordinance layers in one pass), a Housekeeper Workload & Piece-Rate Auditor covering the square-footage ordinances, a Tip Pool & Service Charge Architect with per-person legality verdicts, a Portfolio Rate Forecaster with scheduled steps through 2030 and beyond, a Wage-Hour Exposure & Penalty Modeler, a Fair Workweek Premium Calculator for the five laws that reach hotels, and a Hotel Compliance Profiler.
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Major IRS tipped-occupation final regulations take effect#
TD 10044 (published April 13, 2026) is effective today: the final Treasury Tipped Occupation Code list confirms that bellhops (TTOC 301), concierges (302), hotel desk clerks (303), and housekeepers (304) — plus valet and spa roles — qualify for the OBBBA tips deduction. Mandatory service charges and auto-gratuities do not qualify.
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Santa Monica withdraws hotel health-benefit proposal; $25.00 wage match proceeds#
The Santa Monica City Council withdrew proposed amendments that would have added an LA-style hotel health-benefit payment. The hotel worker wage still rises to $25.00 on July 1, 2026 under the ordinance clause matching the Los Angeles hotel rate.
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Chicago's updated Fair Workweek rules take effect#
Recalibrated coverage rules for Chicago's Fair Workweek Ordinance — which covers hotels — took effect June 1; the covered-employee pay ceiling rises to $33.85/hour or $64,945.55/year on July 1, 2026.
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Major Los Angeles delays the "Olympic Wage" endpoint to 2030#
Ordinance 188944 (effective June 29, 2026) keeps the hotel worker minimum wage step to $25.00 on July 1, 2026 but defers the $30.00 endpoint from 2028 to 2030, and resets the hotel health-benefit payment to $4.25/hour from July 1, 2026 ($6.00 from July 2027). Glendale and Santa Monica track the LA rate.
Jackson Lewis — LA amends hotel worker minimum wage ordinance
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Major Chicago freezes the tipped wage at 76% of minimum for two years#
By a 49–1 vote, the City Council paused the One Fair Wage phase-out: no tipped-wage step on July 1, 2026 or 2027 (tipped cash wage = $12.96 at the new $17.05 minimum). The credit resumes shrinking in 2028 (84%), 2029 (92%), with full parity July 1, 2030 — or July 1, 2033 for employers with 4–20 employees.
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Major DOL formally restores the $684/week salary threshold#
After the Fifth Circuit appeals were dismissed, DOL's technical amendment removing the vacated 2024 overtime rule took effect: the operative thresholds for the white-collar exemptions are again $684/week ($35,568/year) and $107,432 for highly compensated employees.
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DOL proposes replacement independent-contractor rule#
The NPRM (RIN 1235-AA46) would rescind the 2024 independent-contractor rule and adopt a streamlined economic-reality analysis. Comments closed April 28, 2026; a final rule is expected late 2026. WHD already declines to enforce the 2024 rule (FAB 2025-1), but private plaintiffs can still invoke it.
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Federal contractor minimum wage (legacy contracts) set at $13.65#
With EO 14026 rescinded, DOL announced the EO 13658 rate for legacy covered contracts: $13.65/hour ($9.55 tipped) effective May 11, 2026. Newer contracts fall back to SCA prevailing wages and the FLSA floor — relevant to federal-land concessioner lodges.
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DOL opinion letter clarifies the 7(i) commission exemption and tips#
Opinion Letter FLSA2026-4 addresses which minimum wage applies to the §7(i) 1.5×-minimum-wage test and how tips count toward the more-than-half-commissions test — directly relevant to hotel spa and salon compensation plans.
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California extends hotel recall rights through 2026 (AB 858)#
Labor Code §2810.8 — seniority-based recall for laid-off hotel, event-center, airport-hospitality, and building-services workers — was extended to January 1, 2027, with Labor Commissioner enforcement preserved for violations through December 31, 2026.
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DOL opinion letter: guest contact drives tipped-employee status#
Opinion Letter FLSA-2025-03 holds that front-of-house workers with direct customer interaction are tipped employees who may participate in a tip-credit tip pool, while back-of-house counterparts are not — a useful framework for classifying hotel roles.
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Major Disney's $233 million Measure L settlement receives final approval#
The largest wage-theft settlement in California history closed out Grace v. Walt Disney: roughly $179.6M in back pay to ~51,000 workers plus $17.5M in PAGA penalties, after courts held Disney's bond arrangement made it a subsidized employer under Anaheim's Measure L living-wage ordinance.
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LA's $22.50 hotel wage takes effect after referendum challenge fails#
The City Clerk found the referendum petition against the Olympic Wage ordinance had insufficient valid signatures; the $22.50 hotel worker rate (suspended since June 27) took effect September 8. Santa Monica's matching rate snapped to $22.50 the same day.
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Major DC Council scales back Initiative 82's tipped-wage phase-out#
The tipped cash wage is frozen at $10.00 through June 30, 2026, becomes 56% of the full minimum on July 1, 2026 ($10.30 against an $18.40 minimum), and rises five points every two years to a permanent cap of 75% in 2034. Full elimination of the tip credit is repealed.
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DOL relaunches the PAID self-audit program#
The revived Payroll Audit Independent Determination program lets employers self-report FLSA (and now FMLA) violations and settle back wages under WHD supervision without liquidated damages or penalties — a meaningful self-correction option for hotel operators that discover tip-pool or overtime errors.
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Major OBBBA signed: tips and overtime deductions, §45B spa expansion#
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act created above-the-line deductions for qualified tips (up to $25,000/year) and FLSA overtime premium pay (up to $12,500/$25,000 joint) for 2025–2028, and extended the §45B FICA tip credit to beauty and spa services — with major payroll-reporting consequences for hotels starting with 2026 W-2s.
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Major New York limits damages for first-time pay-frequency violations#
Budget legislation limits damages for a first Labor Law §191 manual-worker violation to lost interest (if the employer paid at least semi-monthly on schedule); 100% liquidated damages remain available only after a prior finding. Hotel housekeepers remain "manual workers" entitled to weekly pay.
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DOL stops enforcing the 2024 independent-contractor rule#
Field Assistance Bulletin 2025-1 directs investigators to apply the pre-2024 economic-reality framework (Fact Sheet #13). The 2024 rule remains on the books for private litigation until the pending rescission finalizes.
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EO 14026 federal contractor minimum wage rescinded#
The $17.75 contractor minimum is gone. Legacy contracts (2015–January 2022) revert to EO 13658; newer contracts are governed by SCA prevailing wages and the FLSA. Concessioner lodges on federal lands should confirm which instrument governs before adjusting pay.
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Major Michigan rewrites its tipped-wage future after Mothering Justice#
SB 8 preserved the tip credit that the restored 2018 initiative would have eliminated: the minimum wage steps to $15.00 by 2027 (then CPI), while the tipped percentage climbs from 38% to a permanent 50% by 2031 ($5.49 cash at the 2026 40% step). Violations of the tipped scheme carry a civil fine up to $2,500.
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DOL opinion letter: managers may never take from tip pools#
Opinion Letter FLSA2025-1 confirms that employees meeting the executive duties test cannot receive tips from a mandatory tip pool — even if they only sporadically supervise. Banquet captains and working supervisors remain the highest-risk classification call in hotel tip pools.
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Hyatt settles first housekeeper-workload class action for $2.25M#
The Hyatt Regency Long Beach settlement resolved the first class action under a local housekeeper workload law (Long Beach's Measure WW lineage): claims for double pay on days exceeding the square-footage cap, consent for 10+ hour days, and rest breaks. Workload ordinances are now a live class-action category.
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DOL restores the pre-2021 dual-jobs regulation#
Following the Fifth Circuit's vacatur of the 80/20/30 rule, DOL formally restored the 1967-era dual-jobs text (89 FR 101884): the tip credit turns on whether the employee is engaged in a tipped occupation, not on minute-counting of side work.
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Major Court vacates the 2024 overtime salary rule nationwide#
Texas v. DOL (E.D. Tex.) struck down the 2024 rule's $844 and $1,128 weekly salary thresholds and automatic updates, returning the federal floor to $684/week — later formalized by DOL's May 2026 technical amendment.
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Major Fifth Circuit vacates the 80/20/30 tip credit rule#
Restaurant Law Center v. DOL vacated the 2021 dual-jobs rule nationwide as contrary to the FLSA's text — ending the federal requirement to track tipped employees' side work in 20%/30-minute increments. State analogues (notably New York's) survive independently.
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Major California enacts PAGA reform#
For claims based on notices filed on or after June 19, 2024: plaintiffs must have personally suffered each alleged violation, penalties are capped at 15% for employers that took "all reasonable steps" toward compliance before notice (30% within 60 days after), and cure mechanisms expand. The employee share of penalties rises to 35%.