DOL drops plan to pull FLSA guidance out of federal regulations

DOL drops plan to pull FLSA guidance out of federal regulations

7 October 2026: The US Department of Labor has withdrawn a proposal that would have taken most of its Fair Labor Standards Act interpretive guidance out of the Code of Federal Regulations. The Wage and Hour Division's Federal Register notice says the proposal is withdrawn as of 6 October and the rulemaking is formally closed.

The proposal dates from 2 July 2025. It would have removed those parts of Subchapter B of 29 CFR Chapter V that were never issued, or later amended, through notice and comment rulemaking. These parts, which span the 775 to 795 range, hold interpretive rules and policy statements that the department says do not carry the force and effect of law. The notice lists parts 775, 776, 779, 782, 783, 784, 789, 793 and 794. The department had planned to repurpose them as subregulatory guidance and post them elsewhere, and it asked which provisions should stay in the CFR.

Little changes on the ground. Because the proposal is dropped, the affected parts stay in the CFR where they are, and payroll and HR teams that work from them do not need to look for them in a new location.

The department gives a short reason: further action no longer aligns with its needs, priorities and objectives. It also says it received six substantive comments, of which two supported the proposal and four opposed it, and that commenters worried about removing longstanding text that specific industries rely on. A further 10 comments asked for the 30-day comment period to be extended, a request the department denied at the time.

The notice leaves the door open. The department says it will keep considering more effective ways to modernise and update its interpretive guidance, and that any future revision to these parts would come through new regulatory action. The notice is signed by Andrew B. Rogers, Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division, and dated 28 September 2026.

The docket for the withdrawn proposal is WHD-2025-0002 on regulations.gov.

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Sources

• Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division, Statements of General Policy or Interpretation, Withdrawal of Proposed Rule (Federal Register, FR Doc. 2026-20523), 7 October 2026
• Federal Register notice, PDF (govinfo.gov), 7 October 2026