Congress has joined the fight in trying to stop or delay the Department of Labor’s new overtime regulations. This week, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 246 to 177 to delay the effective date of the DOL’s overtime rule by six months until June 1, 2017. This bill faces an uphill battle — first having to pass the Senate and then a very likely Presidential veto.
Given that the bill is unlikely to become law, and given the questionable future of pending court challenges, employers should continue to prepare for the new regulations to be effective on December 1st. We will continue to monitor these challenges and keep you apprised.
This morning the Department of Labor announced that it is seeking to increase the number of employees eligible for overtime pay by increasing the minimum salary required if an employee is to be considered exempt under the administrative, executive and professional exemptions. The proposed increase would take the minimum annualized salary from $23,660 to $50,440. In addition, under the proposed rule the threshold for the FLSA’s Highly Compensated Employee exemption would rise from $100,000 to $122,148. Both the minimum salary and the Highly Compensated Employee threshold would be indexed for inflation. The DOL also suggested that it may seek other changes to limit the available overtime exemptions. If this change becomes a final rule, we would expect it to become effective in 2016.
The Employment Lawyers 