By SEMA Washington, D.C., Staff
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill to delay by six months the implementation of a U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) rule which makes an estimated 5 million workers eligible for overtime pay. Last May, the DOL raised the minimum salary threshold required to qualify for the Fair Labor Standards Act’s “salaried-worker” exemption to $47,476 per year, effective December 1, 2016. Under the previous rule, management, administrative and professional employees who earn a salary of more than $23,660 per year are exempt from receiving overtime pay when they work more than 40 hours a week. The House bill would maintain the old threshold until June 1, 2017. The White House has threatened a veto if Congress passes the bill, although the Senate has not yet considered legislation delaying the rule.
Legislation has also been introduced in both the House and Senate to phase-in the salary threshold increase for overtime pay. The House bill would provide for increases on December 1 of each year: $35,984 in 2016, $39,780 in 2017, $43,628 in 2018, and $47,476 in 2019. The Senate bill would have four increases over five years. Both bills would also prevent implementation of the DOL rule’s automatic cost-of-living increases scheduled to take place every three years starting in 2020. There has been no action to date on the bills.
For more information, contact Eric Snyder at erics@sema.org.