The Department of Labor (DOL) has published its long-anticipated rewrite of the pay threshold for salary employees to be exempted from overtime requirements.  Notwithstanding numerous concerns and even legal precedents from court cases the last time a massive jump in the salary level was proposed, the Biden Administration rule would increase the salary threshold to $1,059 per week, or $55,000 a year. [That’s a 55% increase in one step over the current levels of $684 a week, or $35,600 a year, for workers to qualify for overtime pay if they work over 40+ hours a week]. The rule is expected to affect an estimated 3.6 million workers.  However, in a move that will likely be the center-piece of legal challenges, the proposed rule seeks automatic raises to the threshold every three years going forward.  CIRT along with a coalition of design/construction organizations has raised serious concerns regarding the large increase proposed by this rulemaking, not the least of which is the impact it will have on further raising costs during an inflationary time.  Moreover, for younger employees this one size fits all increased threshold salary (which may be higher than entry level salaries for some parts of the country) can undermine their professional development.

For more details, see DOL release Notice of Proposed Rulemaking altering the overtime altering the overtime pay regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Comments are due in 60-days or October 30, 2023.