New Overtime Regulations

As you may be aware, in late August the Department of Labor (DOL) implemented new regulations for the white-collar exemptions (executive, administrative, and professional) to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Congress continues to wrestle with the regulations and funding related to the changes, however, the changes are in effect.

The new regulations affect an employer’s classification of an employee as exempt (meaning covered by the FLSA) or non-exempt (meaning not covered by the FLSA). The new regulations are not a complete overhaul of the wage and hour laws as many employers had desired, however, they do change some of the tests for exemption and should be reviewed by all employers.

We have heard from clients that the media’s description of these revised regulations has caused them to believe, incorrectly, that the mere payment of a sufficient salary to a valued employee permits the employer to avoid the payment of overtime. Salary alone does not make an employee exempt. In addition to the “salary test” and employee must satisfy additional requirements in order to meet any of the exemptions. For examples of salary tests, click on the DOL website link below.

The DOL website provides fairly user-friendly descriptions of the regulations as well as compliance and training guides. In particular, the DOL website contains a section entitled Fair Pay, which outlines the differences between the old and new rules. To access the page, click on the DOL link below; then click on “By Audience – Employers” then under the title “Wage and Hour Work Rules” click on “FairPay Overtime Rules.”

If you have any questions regarding this or any employment law, feel free to contact me by email at kwalker@williamsparker.com or phone at 941-329-6628 or contact Julie Roknich at jroknich@williamsparker.com or by phone at 941-536-2044.