Blog Post
Jun 12, 2013
Oregon Court Gives the DOL a "Tip": Not Every Statuory Gap Must Be Filled With Regulation
A federal judge in Oregon recently gave the Secretary of Labor a very important tip: Just because the FLSA appears to be silent on a particular issue does not give the U.S. Department of Labor authority to fill the gap with regulations. In a June 7, 2013 opinion [here], a district court ruled that the DOL’s April 2011 amended tip-pool regulations were invalid because they conflicted with the clear intent of Congress in the FLSA, even though the FLSA is silent regarding the use of tip pools when an employer does not take a tip credit.