DOL Announces Proposal to Require Overtime Compensation for Millions More Employees

The United States Department of Labor ("DOL") is proposing a significant increase to the salary employers must pay many employees in order to "exempt" them from overtime, a change that would affect the payroll of almost all employers. The Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") guarantees that most employees will receive time-and-a-half overtime pay for hours worked over 40 in a workweek. The FLSA exempts certain categories of employees from this requirement, especially certain executive, administrative, professional, outside sales and computer employees (these are often called the "white collar" exemptions). To be considered exempt, employees must be paid a minimum amount on a salary basis. Currently, the minimum salary level, which was last updated in 2004, is $455 a week ($23,660 for a full-year worker).