In March 2014, President Obama signed a memorandum directing the U.S. Department of Labor to raise the bar for certain employees to qualify as exempt from overtime pay requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Under the current rules, employers must provide overtime to salaried workers making less than $455 per week, or about $23,660 annually.
The Obama administration issued new proposed rules in late June 2015 that would increase the minimum salary threshold to $970 per week, or approximately $50,440 per year – a change that would boost affected workers' pay by between $1.2 billion and $1.3 billion per year. The regulations could benefit millions of workers, but many within the higher education community worry that they could have a dramatic and costly impact on college campuses.
AACRAO, along with a broad coalition of higher education associations, submitted comments on the Obama administration's proposed changes to the federal overtime rules.
"We agree that an increase to the minimum salary threshold is due and that [the U.S. Department of Labor] must update the salary levels and regulations from time to time to ensure the exemptions are not abused. The proposed minimum salary threshold, however, is simply too high," the coalition said in comments to the agency.
The groups, led by College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR), warned that the new rules would force colleges to reclassify many workers to hourly status and argued that such a move "would be to the detriment of employees, institutions, and students." The coalition of 19 higher education associations urged the Department of Labor to consider lowering the new proposed salary cutoff and to phase in the new level over time.
AACRAO is once again partnering with CUPA-HR and various other higher education associations to offer a free webinar, entitled “FLSA Overtime: How, When and Why to Prepare,” on Tuesday, February 16 from 2:00 – 3:30 p.m. ET.
Developed in collaboration with Sibson Consulting and several higher ed HR practitioners from across the country, this webinar will focus on the dynamic challenges higher ed institutions face in responding to the proposed rule changes.
The webinar will seek to address compliance and communication strategies, preparing budgets, and possible morale and productivity issues.
Register for the webinar here. Please note that you will be asked to create a free website account with CUPA-HR in order to login and complete the registration.