U.S. Department of Labor Issues Proposed Rule that Would Qualify More Workers for Overtime
On March 7, 2019, the United States Department of Labor (“DOL”) announced a proposed rule that would increase the salary threshold for workers to qualify for an exemption to overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act. If this proposed rule goes into effect, the DOL estimates that it would result in more than a million additional American workers becoming eligible for overtime.
Under current law, employees with an annual salary below $23,600 ($455 per week) must be paid overtime if they work more than 40 hours in a week, regardless of their job duties. Workers making at least or more than $23,600 could be excluded from overtime if their job duties fit within certain established exemptions.

The DOL’s recent proposal would increase the current salary level, which was set back in 2004, to $35,308 per year ($679 per week). Therefore, more employees would be required to receive overtime regardless of their job duties. The proposed rule would also increase the total annual compensation requirement for “highly-compensated employees” – employees who are exempt from overtime in part because of their high annual compensation – from $100,000 to $147,414 per year.

The DOL is now asking for public comment to the proposed rule’s language and encourages any interested members of the public to submit comments by going to www.regulations.gov and entering “RIN 1235-AA20” in the search bar. The public will have 60 days to submit comments once the proposed rule is published in the Federal Register.  

More information about this proposed rule can be found on the DOL’s website, which can be accessed HERE .

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