Dive Brief:
- Four congressional democrats urged the secretary of labor in a March 25 letter to raise the salary threshold for overtime eligibility and adopt automatic updates.
- The U.S. Department of Labor's regulations implementing the Fair Labor Standards Act require that workers earning less than $684 a week ($35,568 per year) be paid time-and-one-half for all hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek.
- Noting that the salary threshold historically has ranged from the 35th to 55th percentile of weekly earnings for full-time, salaried workers nationwide, the lawmakers suggested a salary threshold in line with the "historical high point of salary thresholds — the 55th percentile of earning of full-time salaried workers nationwide." This would amount to at least $82,732 by 2026, according to the letter.
Dive Insight:
The FLSA requires that employers pay workers overtime unless an exemption applies, and employers must take into account both salary and job duties, sources previously told HR Dive. If the salary threshold is met, the employee's job duties are considered. Employers may not have to pay overtime to executive, administrative, professional, computer and outside sales employees, according to a DOL fact sheet.
For many years, the FLSA's salary threshold remained at $23,660. During President Barack Obama's tenure, DOL moved to increase the threshold to $47,476 — the 40th percentile of earnings for full-time, salaried workers in the lower Census Region, according to the lawmakers' letter.
A federal district court, however, blocked the rule just before it took effect. With President Donald Trump then in the White House, DOL finalized a lower threshold, $35,568, with no automatic increases. That rule, the lawmakers argued in the letter, "leaves behind 8.2 million workers" who would have been covered under the Obama rule.
