The Obama administration Tuesday night released final rules-- feared by many higher education administrators but eagerly awaited by some employees -- that will require employers to make overtime payments to millions of workers who aren't now eligible. The administration also reiterated many exemptions in established law for higher education employees (those who can be seen as teachers). And those exemptions may disappoint some adjuncts, postdocs, graduate student employees and many research assistants who had hoped the new rules would increase their paychecks.
Many postdocs who do not have significant teaching duties would now, in theory, be eligible for overtime. But the Obama administration endorsed efforts to raise their pay to levels where they would not be eligible.
The key part of the new regulations will increase from $23,660 to $47,476 the pay level below which salaried employees at virtually all companies and employers are presumed to be eligible for overtime. That increase is significant in that it includes many higher education employees who have not historically been eligible for overtime. Further, the new level will be adjusted upward every three years to reflect changes in the cost of living.
Read more at Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/05/18/obama-administration-releases-final-rules-overtime-pay-including-some-exemptions