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Supreme Court Agrees To Hear Trade Group Challenge To Mortgage Loan Officer Compensation Guidance
On June 16, the U.S. Supreme Court consolidated and agreed to hear two related cases regarding the Department of Labor’s (DOL) 2010 interpretation of its regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act that mortgage loan officers are not exempt from minimum wage and overtime pay requirements. Perez v. Mortgage Bankers Assoc., No. 13-1041. In July 2013, the D.C. Circuit instructed the district court to vacate the DOL’s 2010 guidance, holding that the guidance significantly revised an earlier contrary agency interpretation of DOL regulations and, as such, required notice and comment rulemaking. The Supreme Court will address the question of “[w]hether a federal agency must engage in notice-and-comment rulemaking before it can significantly alter an interpretive rule that articulates an interpretation of an agency regulation.” The case will be argued and decided during the Court’s next term, which begins in October 2014 and ends June 2015.