The U.S. Department of Labor ("DOL") has published the final rule updating the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") overtime regulations. The final rule provides for significant changes that will have a major impact on overtime entitlement to millions of workers nationwide who would not otherwise qualify for overtime under the existing "white-collar" exemptions for executive, administrative and professional employees and certain highly compensated employees.
The most significant changes include an increase in the salary and compensation levels required for Executive, Administrative and Professional workers to be exempt from overtime requirements. The final rule:
***The changes to the overtime rules will take effect on December 1, 2016. It is critical that employers evaluate current exempt positions to determine whether requirements will be met to satisfy the exemption. Planning is also extremely necessary to determine whether currently exempt employees will become non-exempt when these changes take effect later this year. Employers who cannot afford to meet the salary requirement of $47,476 for currently exempt Executive, Administrative and Professional employees will actively need to plan to transition those employees to hourly, non-exempt workers.
For more information on these significant changes, please visit: https://www.dol.gov/whd/overtime/final2016/. Should you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact me.
Diana M. Valdez
Attorney at Law