Department of Labor Announces Proposed Overtime Updates

The Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on March 7, 2019 in the Federal Register (84 FR 10900) pertaining to proposed revisions to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). In developing the proposal, DOL received extensive public input from six in-person listening sessions held around the nation and more than 200,000 comments that were received as part of a 2017 Request for Information (RFI). As a result of this input, the DOL has proposed the following updates regarding salary and compensation levels:

• The proposal increases the minimum salary required for an employee to qualify for exemption from $455 to $679 per week (equivalent to $35,308 per year).
• The proposal increases the total annual compensation requirement for "highly compensated employees" (HCE) from $100,000 to $147,414 per year.
• A commitment to periodic review to update the salary threshold. An update would continue to require notice-and-comment rulemaking.
• Allowing employers to use nondiscretionary bonuses and incentive payments (including commissions) that are paid annually or more frequently to satisfy up to 10 percent of the standard salary level.
• No changes in overtime protections for:
• Police Officers;
• Fire Fighters;
• Paramedics;
• Nurses;
• Laborers including: non-management production-line employees; and
• Non-management employees in maintenance, construction and similar occupations such as carpenters, electricians, mechanics, plumbers, iron workers, craftsmen, operating engineers, longshoremen, and other construction workers
• No changes to the job duties test.
• No automatic adjustments to the salary threshold.