Labor Secretary to Review Overtime Rule

Labor Department Secretary Alexander Acosta testified at a recent Congressional hearing that he plans to review the overtime rule involving exempt salaried employees. The Obama Administration sought to increase the minimum salary required for overtime-exempt employees to $47,476 annually for full-time employees from $23,660. However, a federal judge in November 2016 issued a nationwide injunction against the DOL's regulation expanding the number of workers who would be eligible for overtime pay.
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Labor Department Secretary Alexander Acosta testified at a recent Congressional hearing that he plans to review the overtime rule involving exempt salaried employees.

The Obama Administration sought to increase the minimum salary required for overtime-exempt employees to $47,476 annually for full-time employees from $23,660. However, a federal judge in November 2016 issued a nationwide injunction against the DOL's regulation expanding the number of workers who would be eligible for overtime pay.

Click here for a thorough overview of that decision and the current status of overtime rules.

Secretary Acosta recently testified before Congress that he intends to review the matter and thinks that an increase is necessary. Secretary Acosta said DOL will request public comments and that a formal notice will be issued.

(See Labor Secretary Says Change to Overtime Rule is Needed for more.)

In the November ruling, the judge said that the DOL's proposed salary threshold increase would have effectively made exceedingly large segments of the workforce automatically eligible for overtime based solely on their income, and that this was never Congress' intent.

The Trump Administration has until June 30 to file a brief with the court.

"My expectation is that either the Trump Administration or Congress will move to increase the overtime exemption threshold, but by a significantly lower number than the Obama Administration's effort," said David Fialkov, NATSO's Vice President of Government Relations. "Most stakeholders agree that the current number is too low, but most also agree that more than doubling it overnight doesn't make a lot of sense and could lead to unintended consequences. I further do not expect the ultimate policy change to involve automatic increases to the salary threshold, which the Obama Administration also sought to implement."

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