Articles Discussing Overtime Exemptions Under The FLSA.

Is your organization ready for this change or are you in panic mode? In this podcast you will hear from Littler principal Tammy McCutchen who has been closely monitoring these developments and served as the Department of Labor wage and hour administrator the last time the overtime regulations were revised. Tammy shares her wealth of knowledge and answers frequently asked questions about the Final Rule including:

As employers know, the final rule updating the federal overtime regulations was published in May 2016 and is scheduled to take effect December 1, 2016.

In our last post we reported that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and fifty-plus other business groups suing to block the U.S. DOL’s overtime exemption rule from taking effect had not yet moved to expedite the court’s ruling on the case, making it unlikely that the court would issue any sort of ruling before the rules take effect on December 1, 2016. Well, now they have. In a motion for expedited summary judgment filed Friday October 14, the business groups are now asking the court to rule on the merits of their case on the same timetable as is set for its hearing of the motion for preliminary injunction in the parallel lawsuit being pursued by a coalition of 21 states. On Monday, the business groups followed up with a motion asking the court to consolidate their case with the parallel state lawsuit. According to the motion, the states and the DOL do not oppose consolidating the cases.

On September 20 we reported about a lawsuit by 21 states seeking to block the U.S. DOL’s new overtime exemption rules. This week, the states followed up their complaint by filing an Emergency Motion for Preliminary Injunction, asking the court to block enforcement of the new rule pending a final ruling on the states’ claims. According to the court’s docket no hearing date has been set.

Twenty-one states, led by Texas and Nevada, have filed a lawsuit against the Department of Labor seeking a preliminary and permanent injunction declaring unlawful the DOL’s Final Rule amending the overtime exemption for executive, administrative, and professional employees (the “white collar” exemptions) under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Yesterday, a group of 21 states filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas challenging the Department of Labor’s new overtime rule, which is set to take effect on December 1, 2016. The group challenging the rule is led by Texas and Nevada, and includes the following states: Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, and Wisconsin. The lawsuit names as Defendants the DOL and its Wage and Hour Division, Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez, and Wage and Hour Administrator David Weil, and Assistant Administrator for Policy Mary Ziegler.

A group of Democratic lawmakers (yes, you read that right) have introduced legislation aimed at easing the sting of the new federal overtime exemption regulations that currently are slated to take effect December 1, 2016.

On June 30, 2016, President Obama signed the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (S. 2328), commonly known as “PROMESA.” This measure, which was enacted with bipartisan support, effectively delays application of the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) new overtime rule to employees in Puerto Rico.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s new Final Rule as to the Fair Labor Standards Act’s “white collar” exemptions to overtime could open employers up to class action liability as previously exempt employees fail to meet new salary requirements.

Every economist knows that there’s no such thing as a free lunch. That’s as true in the labor market as in any other area of the economy, but you’d hardly know that by reading the DOL’s publications promoting its new overtime exemption rules. For example, in a recent blog post, Dr. David Weil, Administrator of the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division, set out to debunk some purported “myths” about the new rules. Reading this post, one is left with the impression that the new rules will benefit pretty much every affected employee with no real burden on employers. Here are some thoughts on these “myths” and the “truths” that Dr. Weil offers in response to each:

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published the final rule revising the “white collar” overtime exemption regulations on May 18, 2016. This publication was the result of a process that began in March 2014 when President Obama directed the Secretary of Labor to review and “modernize” the current overtime regulations. In the final rule, the DOL estimates that the changes will impact 4.2 million white collar workers.

One of the issues that colleges and universities are struggling with under the new FLSA overtime exemption rules is how to compensate residence hall directors. While responsibilities vary from institution to institution, residence hall directors generally are responsible for overseeing students living in a college or university residence hall.

As schools seek to adjust to the new Department of Labor overtime exemption rules and increased salary standards, nearly every institution has classification and overtime-calculation questions about athletic coaches and athletic trainer positions. The NCAA (in conjunction with CUPA-HR) has now issued a helpful paper addressing exemption analysis and practical considerations applicable to these roles that can be found here.

Thank you to those who attended today’s webinar, “New DOL Overtime Exemption Rules – What You Really Need to Know Now.” We hope that everyone enjoyed the presentation and learned information that will assist in getting your organization ready for compliance.

On the same day the U.S. Department of Labor released its Final Rule updating regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) governing overtime exemptions for executive, administrative, and professional employees (commonly known as the “white collar exemptions” or “EAP exemptions”), a bill was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives that would delay implementation of the Final Rule in Puerto Rico for at least two years after enactment of the bill, until certain conditions are met. (For details on the Final Rule, see our article, Labor Department Announces Final Rule Amending Overtime Regulations for ‘White Collar’ Workers.)