Department of Labor’s Proposed Rules May Extend Overtime Benefits to Nearly 5 Million Workers In late May, Attorney Johnson posted an article foreshadowing the long-awaited revisions coming to the Department of Labor’s regulations on certain overtime pay exemptions. Earlier this week, the Department of Labor announced the details of its proposed rules. If approved, the rule changes would:
- More than double the minimum weekly salary for overtime exempt workers from $455 to $970 (increasing the base annual salary for overtime exempt employees from $23,660 to $50,440);
- Extend the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime and minimum wage provisions to nearly 5 million workers within the first year of being implemented;
- Clarify the requirements for employers and their workers regarding who is entitled to overtime pay; and
- Allow for automatic updates to the minimum weekly salary for exempt employees based on inflation and wage growth over time.[i]
President Obama addressed the anticipated benefits of the proposed rule by stating that the increased coverage under the FLSA’s overtime provisions would be “good for workers who want fair pay” and “good for business owners who are already paying their employees what they deserve – since those who are doing it right are undercut by competitors who aren’t.”
[ii] Individuals who support the DOL’s suggested changes to the overtime exemptions will be able to submit comments on the proposed rules and their potential impact on their lives at
https://www.regulations.gov or via mail to Mary Ziegler, Director of the Division of Regulations, Legislation, and Interpretation, Wage and Hour Division, U.S. Department of Labor, Room S-3502, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20210. If you have questions about whether you are entitled to overtime pay, please
contact our office at your earliest convenience to speak with one of our attorneys. ---
[i] Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales and Computer Employees, Wage and Hour Division, U.S. Department of Labor, https://www.dol.gov/whd/overtime/NPRM2015/OT-NPRM.pdf.
[ii] Barack Obama,
A Hard Day’s Work Deserves a Fair Day’s Pay, Huffington Post (June 29, 2015),
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/barack-obama/a-hard-days-work-deserves-a-fair-days-pay_b_7691922.html.