Essential Facts about the new DOL Overtime Exemption Rules

 

Essential Facts about the new DOL Overtime Exemption Rules

by Samantha Yurman, JD,

As published in the Summer 2016 Issue of ACCE Chamber Executive Magazine

In May, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced the publication of a final rule amending the white collar overtime exemptions to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The final rule, increases the threshold salary for the exemption to $913 per week ($47,476 per year), the standard salary level at the 40th percentile of earnings of full-time salaried workers in the lowest-wage Census Region (currently the South). The new rule also increases the total annual compensation requirement needed to exempt highly-compensated employees (HCEs) to $134,004 per year and established a mechanism for automatically updating the salary and compensation levels every three years to maintain the levels at the above percentiles and to ensure that they continue to provide useful and effective tests for exemption.  READ MORE