On May 13, ABC sent a letter to Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., and the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Materials Subcommittee, urging the committee to oppose the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s authorization of new California regulations on locomotive emissions.

ABC, as a member of the Partnership to Protect Workplace Opportunity, called upon the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division to extend the implementation date of the first increase to the minimum salary threshold under its new final rule altering the overtime regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Both the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives held hearings in early May featuring testimony from U.S. Department of Labor Acting Secretary Julie Su, the sole witness at both events, to review the president’s Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Request for the Department of Labor and discuss the policies and priorities of the department.

On April 23, the Federal Trade Commission voted 3-2 to issue its final rule to ban noncompete clauses. The rule is effective Sept. 4, 2024.

On May 1, the Council on Environmental Quality issued its final rule on National Environmental Policy Act Implementing Regulations Revisions Phase 2. The final rule implements wide-ranging changes that will add unnecessarily burdensome and costly provisions to the federal environmental review and permitting process.

On April 23, the U.S. Department of Labor issued its final rule on overtime, which will change overtime regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The final rule increases the minimum annual salary level threshold for exemption in two phases: from the current level of $35,568 to $43,888 on July 1, 2024, and to $58,656 on Jan. 1, 2025. In addition, the threshold for highly compensated employees will be increase from the current threshold of $107,432 to $132,964 on July 1 and then to $151,164 on Jan. 1. Further, salary thresholds will update every three years starting on July 1, 2027.

On April 22, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council published a final rule, Federal Acquisition Regulation: Sustainable Procurement, with the stated goal of restructuring and updating existing requirements for sustainability in federal procurement. The rule was first announced in an April 19 White House press release.

On April 18, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration issued the final rule on Lowering Miners’ Exposure to Respirable Crystalline Silica and Improving Respiratory Protection, which lowers the permissible exposure limit of respirable crystalline silica to 50 micrograms per cubic meter of air for a full-shift exposure, calculated as an eight-hour, time-weighted average. If a miner’s exposure exceeds the limit, mine operators are required to take immediate corrective actions to come into compliance.

On April 19, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued a final rule to implement the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which has been in effect since June 27, 2023. As the EEOC explains, the PWFA requires most employers with 15 or more employees “to provide a ‘reasonable accommodation’ to a qualified employee’s or applicant’s known limitations related to, affected by, or arising out of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, unless the accommodation will cause the employer an ‘undue hardship.’” The final rule goes into effect on June 18.

On Feb. 27, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency published a notice and request for comment regarding authorization of new California regulations requiring drastically lowered emissions for locomotives operated on railways within the state.