Many executive and professional employees who have been exempt from federal minimum wage and overtime regulations may soon qualify to be compensated for overtime. Indeed, the low salary requirement for the executive overtime exemption may soon be a thing of the past. In late November, the Department of Labor released its Fall 2014 Agency Rule List. President Obama has made clear his intention to modernize and streamline FLSA regulations for executive, administrative, and professional employees. The FLSA provides for overtime exemptions (and minimum wage exemptions, in some cases) for employees who are employed in a bona fide executive, administrative or professional capacity, or in the capacity of an outside salesperson. Soon, if employers wish to avoid paying overtime to their executive, administrative, or professional employees, they may have to increase their salaries significantly.
The updated regulations will increase the $455 minimum weekly salary threshold for exempt executive workers. At $455/week, workers earning just $24,000 annually currently meet the minimum salary requirement. The White House has said that just 12% of salaried workers now fall below this threshold, compared to 65% in 1975 when the regulations set a $250/week minimum. New York already requires employers to pay higher minimums to meet the exemption ($600 in New York, increasing to $675/week by 2016). It has been reported that the Obama administration is planning on setting the minimum salary for the overtime exemption at $42,000 per year (just over $800/week).
A substantial increase even to the anticipated $42,000 would have the most impact on production, service and retail industries that have substantial numbers of low paid supervisors.
To learn more about what this means for your business or compensation package call Gilbert Law Group today: (631)630-0100.
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