The Department of Labor today unveiled new proposed changes to overtime pay requirements. The proposal, if adopted, will automatically allow workers who make less than $35,308 annually to be eligible for time-and-a-half pay for all hours worked above 40 a week. The current income threshold for employees to qualify for time-and-a-half pay is $24,000 per year.
Unlike the Obama administration’s proposal, which stalled in litigation, the Trump administration’s proposal does not establish automatic increases of the salary threshold. Instead, the public is requested to weigh in every four (4) years on consideration of salary updates by conducting new rulemaking. The proposal also leaves the current “duties test,” which is used to determine whether workers with income above the salary threshold are classified as supervisors, in place and unaffected.
The Trump administration suggests that 1 million workers will be newly eligible under its proposal. However, the proposal first needs to pass public comments before it is adopted. Challenges from worker advocacy groups are likely, but the proposal will receive the current administration’s full support for passage before the 2020 election.
For additional information, please contact attorney Nick Golding at ngolding@KDDK.com or (812) 423-3183, or contact a member of the KDDK Labor and Employment Law Practice Team.
