In welcome news for employers, the West Virginia Department of Labor (WVDOL) has withdrawn a set of emergency regulations that would have significantly revamped state wage and hour requirements and created conflicts with federal wage and hour regulations.  The WVDOL proposed the regulations to West Virginia's Secretary of State on November 19, 2014 and requested they take effect on January 1, 2015, giving employers little time to respond to the proposal or develop compliance strategies.  Despite the eleventh-hour approach used by the WVDOL, employers mounted a focused response analyzing the various flaws in the proposed regulations, which in many instances were vaguely worded, inconsistent with decades-long practices under federal and state law, and beyond the WVDOL's legislative mandate to amend existing regulations.  

In response to these well-founded concerns, Acting WVDOL Commissioner John R. Junkins withdrew the proposed regulations on December 23.  In his letter to the Secretary of State, Junkins stated that the WVDOL will submit an amended set of regulations at the next regular legislative session (which is set to convene on January 14) rather than seek an emergency enactment through the Secretary's office.  As a result, the WVDOL's withdrawal may only represent a temporary reprieve for employers in West Virginia.  Although the WVDOL intends to amend the regulations it will submit to the legislature, employers operating in West Virginia should familiarize themselves with the recently withdrawn regulations, which may provide a useful roadmap for the types of changes the WVDOL is contemplating.  Continue reading this article here.