The article discusses the arguments made by lawyers before the U.S. Supreme Court whether the work done by 90,000 biopharmaceutical sales representatives in the US constitutes actual selling and whether the US Department of Labor (DOL) can reinterpret its regulations through amicus briefs filed in court cases rather than going through the traditional notice for public comments and hearings.

Littler’s Lee Schreter said the issue of whether the court will defer to the DOL's interpretation "is very important," not just for the pharmaceutical industry, "but to all businesses".  She states that, "what the Department of Labor did here is basically to engage in backdoor rulemaking by submitting this amicus brief in the pharmaceutical litigation, taking a position not consistent with the regulations or the statute.”

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