What BSCs Should Know About Pending Overtime Changes

Q: There was a lot of buzz last year about the Obama administration increasing overtime pay. I haven’t heard anything about that in a while. Has that gone away?

A: Alas, no.  As you’ll recall, the administration announced that the minimum salary threshold to be exempt from the overtime provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act will increase from $455 to an estimated $970 per week. The change was postponed until mid-2016. Because of the delay in the initial implementation date, once the new effective date is established, it is expected that employers will be given short notice to make the necessary changes (by either reclassifying employees as nonexempt and thereby eligible for overtime, or by increasing their salaries to more than $970/week). Our best advice is to start working now on a strategy to handle this significant change.

Claudia St. John, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, is president of Affinity HR Group, LLC and author of the Amazon.com bestselling book, “Transforming Teams – Tips for Improving Collaboration and Building Trust.”