In September, Greater Louisville Inc. authored a sign-on letter that expressed our opposition to a proposed regulation concerning overtime compensation. More than 100 of you signed on, opposing the proposed change, which would increase the threshold by more than double and would allow businesses just one year to implement all changes on both the hour and administrative levels. When enacted, this measure will have a significant impact on businesses across our region.
This week, however, there was some good news. The proposed change to the overtime pay threshold for “white collar” workers was expected to be finalized as soon as January 2016 but now is not expected to be finalized until late-2016. This proposed change will double the overtime pay threshold and only allow businesses one year to implement all changes on both the hour and administrative levels.
The email below, from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, contains a link to a questionnaire. We encourage businesses to complete this to further illustrate what impact the proposed overtime regulation will have on your business. After seeing how your business may be impacted, we strongly encourage our members to contact your Representative and Senators to discuss this regulation.
We hope you will take advantage of this new opportunity to make your voice heard regarding the Department of Labor’s proposed overtime regulation.
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Thanks to those of you who were able to join us to discuss the ramifications of the Obama Administration’s proposed overtime regulation, which would raise the salary threshold dramatically, thereby making millions more employees eligible for overtime compensation (e.g. reducing the number of employees who can be exempt.)
By raising the salary threshold for executive, administrative, and professional employees from the current annual level of $23,660 to $50,440 employers will be forced to decide whether to reclassify millions of employees to non-exempt status or increase their salaries to keep them exempt. Employees who are reclassified will be required to track their hours and “punch a clock.” They will be paid only for hours they actually work, and may not actually earn overtime as many employers will limit their work hours to fewer than 40 in a week.
Reclassifying employees will likely lead to other negative effects for employees such as losing flexibility in their work hours, losing benefits, and losing professional opportunities.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce submitted comments to the Department of Labor on this issue. You can view the full comments here, and a summary here.
The attached Overtime Regulation Impact Questionnaire is designed to help employers determine the impact of this proposal on their operations. We encourage you to use these questions and work with your member businesses to help them understand and plan for the new overtime rule. Ask your member businesses to send their findings back to you, then forward the collected stories to your members of Congress to demonstrate how this rule will affect the businesses you support. Copy us by including federation@uschamber.com so we can help echo these concerns in our ongoing efforts to describe the impact of this proposal.
With your help, we can build the case that this proposed rule will not boost employees’ income, but instead will force employers to reduce employees’ flexibility, benefits, and growth opportunities.
Thank you for your support,
Rob Engstrom
SVP
U.S. Chamber of Commerce |
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