In a January 6 press release, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division’s (DOL/WHD) announced that they have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding to enhance their information sharing, investigations, enforcement, training, and outreach. As a result, we can now expect greater coordination and collaboration between these two agencies as they enhance their efforts to maximize the enforcement of federal laws protecting workers’ rights. This could spell trouble for employers that fail to comply with misclassification and related provisions enforced by those agencies. Now that this Memo is in effect, here is what employers need to know.

The NLRB and DOL/WHD Join Forces

The agencies have agreed to collaborate on enforcement of those regulations administered by DOL/WHD and NLRB. Practically speaking, this new partnership doubles the breadth of enforcement activities under worker protection statutes including the FLSA (wage and hour law), FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act) and the NLRA (National Labor Relations Act, which protects workers’ rights to organize and bargain collectively). The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) provides for and encourages greater interagency enforcement through “information sharing, joint investigations and enforcement activity, training, education, and outreach.”

In its press release, the NLRB explained that the MOU will allow for “better enforcement against unlawful pay practices,...

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