If we take a trip down FLSA minimum salary threshold memory lane we’ll recall the Obama administration attempted to raise the former and current threshold from $23,660 to $47,476. The efforts were thwarted when a Federal judge in Texas put an injunction on the change. And now it remains at $23,660 (that is the minimum amount that an exempt worker must earn in order to be considered exempt from the overtime and other requirements of FLSA). Of course the salary threshold is just one component – workers have to fall under certain defined categories of workers in order to qualify and pass additional “tests”, many of which intensely examine the actual duties of these employees.
And now, a new overtime rule proposal is heading to the the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. OMB’s regulatory office has no deadline by which it must review the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) rule but the move indicates that a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) will be published for public comment in the near future.
Most likely, an NPRM will appear in March, according to Tammy McCutchen, a former DOL Wage and Hour Division administrator and principal at Littler Mendelson. McCutchen, who said she confirmed the news independently, also said she expects DOL to set a salary level in the low- to mid-$30,000s.
The regulations, which set a salary threshold for overtime eligibility under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), have been in limbo for years.
It is our hope that any decisions made give employers some time to implement the new threshold whatever that may ultimately be. We will update you.