SCOTUS: Labor Dept Regs Lack Explanation for Abandonment of Decade-old Practice

Pillsbury attorney Julia Judish provided commentary on the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Encino Motorcars, LLC v. Navarro that vacated a Ninth Circuit ruling after holding that Department of Labor Fair Labor Standards Act regulations were not entitled to deference because they were issued without adequate explanation. In Attys React To High Court’s Auto Service Advisers OT Ruling, Judish stated:

“The Encino Motorcars decision will have little direct effect on the scope of FLSA overtime exemptions. The FLSA question presented in Encino — whether service advisers at auto dealerships are eligible for overtime — is unresolved. On remand, the Ninth Circuit will decide that question. The decision’s significance lies in its holding that an agency’s published regulations are not entitled to deference if the regulation departs from the agency’s long-standing prior interpretations, and if the agency has not published an explanation and analysis of its changed interpretation. Other published regulations may be subject to similar challenges.”

The Encino decision is but yet another recent decision calling into question whether deference is to be given to an agency’s rulemaking. The Chevron deference debate continues.