In an opinion issued March 9, 2015, in Perez v. Mortgage Bankers Ass’n, 2015 WL 998535 (U.S. Mar 09, 2015), click here, the United States Supreme Court provided an answer to the ongoing dispute between the mortgage banking industry and the U.S. Labor Department (DOL) regarding the status of mortgage loan officers under federal labor law for minimum wage and overtime compensation requirements. Recall that in 1999 and 2001, the DOL issued opinion letters stating that mortgage loan officers do not qualify for the administrative exemption to overtime pay requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act. In 2004, the DOL issued new regulations regarding the exemption. In 2006, the DOL issued an opinion letter finding that mortgage loan officers fell within the administrative exemption under the 2004 regulations. In 2010, the DOL again altered its interpretation of the administrative exemption when it withdrew the 2006 opinion letter and issued an Administrator’s Interpretation (referred to in the Perez opinion as an “interpretive rule”) that mortgage loan officers do not qualify for the administrative exemption from the Fair Labor Standards Act minimum wage and overtime compensation requirements
