A change in federal labor law that takes effect in December 2016 has colleges and universities scrambling to sort out which salaried employees will be due extra pay if they work more than 40 hours in a week.
The new law, a change in the Fair Labor Standards Act, makes more full-time salaried employees eligible for overtime pay. Those employees who earn up to $47,000 per year will be eligible for extra pay for work over 40 hours a week; now only those who earn up to $23,000 per year are.
Administrators agree that an update in the rule was overdue. While living costs have risen, the salary threshold hadn’t been changed since 2004. But many observers expected a gradual increase, not a doubling.
The rule change is likely to prove especially challenging for small, private colleges, already facing tight budgets, and campuses outside major urban areas, where living costs and salaries are lower and more employees may be affected.
Read more at The Chronicle of Higher Education: http://www.chronicle.com/specialreport/What-You-Need-to-Know-About/58