US Department of Labor announces field assistance bulletin withdrawing 3 opinion letters on tipped employees

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division today announced the issuance of a new field assistance bulletin addressing the treatment of related duties performed by tipped employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2026-1 brings the division’s guidance on tipped employees with dual jobs into alignment with current regulations.The bulletin withdraws the division’s 1979, 1980, and 1985 opinion letters concerning the application of dual jobs regulations to tipped employees. The withdrawal of the three opinion letters is necessary because they no longer reflect the division’s policy or interpretation of the FLSA. The bulletin also clarifies that the current dual jobs regulation focuses on whether an employee performs duties related to the employee’s tipped occupation, rather than imposing a specific percentage-based limit on the time an employee may spend performing related, non-tipped duties within that occupation.The publication of the new bulletin follows a 2024 federal court decision that vacated the department’s 2021 dual jobs final rule. After that decision, the department removed the regulatory text adopted...