Congress Considers Extending Overtime Availability to More Workers

Two years ago, the U.S.
Department of Labor (DOL) made changes to the white-collar overtime exemption
rules under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). For most private employers in California, the changes had little impact because California’s overtime exemption
rules continued to provide greater protection to workers.

However, the new rules
had some impact on public sector employers in California—who are covered only by the
FLSA—and private employers with workers outside the state. For example, the
tests for determining whether employees were performing exempt duties were
relaxed. But now, legislation is pending in Congress that would undo some of
these rule changes.

One effect of the DOL
rule changes was that some employees who previously didn’t qualify for exemption
now do. Several proposed measures in Washington—S.
223, S. 14, and S. 846—would restore overtime pay to these employees. The
legislation, if passed, would repeal provisions of the new DOL regulations that
deny overtime to employees who were nonexempt under the old rules.

The recent DOL regulations
also increased the minimum weekly salary required for white-collar exemption to
$455, up from $155. The pending legislation would further boost the minimum
salary to $591 per week to guarantee overtime protection to more workers. The
bills also call for subsequent annual increases in an amount equal to the Employment
Cost Index for executive, managerial, and administrative occupations for that
year.

You can link to the bills
online at http://thomas.loc.gov/home/c109query.html.

Paying Overtime: 10 Key Exemption Concepts

Only one thing really matters in the determination as to whether or not an employee is exempt: The duties the employee performs. Learn how to avoid costly, preventable mistakes with our free White Paper, Paying Overtime: 10 Key Exemption Concepts.