The new administration also calls for the elimination of DEI initiatives in the private sector, calling such programs discriminatory and threatening legal action to halt these efforts. While not directly impacting payroll operations, these developments will affect employers and employee administration in general. The pattern of activity set out at the CFPB likely will continue as the DOGE team moves to larger agencies, such as the Labor Department and the Internal Revenue Service. Payroll professionals should expect certain parts of the guidance available on agency websites to either go away completely, or be changed. (The current version of one tax form reportedly already was removed from the IRS site, a racial nondiscrimination certification form for private schools: Form 5578.) As for staffing and service changes, those at the IRS who handle tax season issues were told they could not take the administration’s early- out offer to leave service immediately and get paid until September—they were told to stay until at least May.
The Pipeline of Regulatory Actions One of President Trump’s first executive orders froze all pending regulations pending review. This also happened early in the Biden Administration. With this action many of the proposed rules, including rules close to finalizing but not yet formally published, are suspended. Proposed Labor Department regulations now on hold include a move to phase out the issuance of certificates that allow employers to pay some workers with disabilities less than the federal minimum wage, currently $7.25 per hour, for the work they perform. Several Biden Administration Wage and Hour rules were invalidated or suspended by court action last year, including the rule that added an additional layer of compliance to determining whether tipped worker time could qualify for the current $2.13 an hour subminimum wage. A final rule to change the salary threshold amount for determining workers that are exempt from Fair Labor Standards Act overtime pay requirements also was invalidated, and It is not likely the Trump Administration will challenge the overtime ruling handed down in November .
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ISSUE 9 GLOBAL PAYROLL MAGAZINE
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