President Obama Seeks To Amend FLSA

President Barack Obama has just released a Presidential Memorandum directing the Secretary of Labor to “propose revisions to modernize and streamline the existing overtime regulations” aimed at revising the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”).

The FLSA, enacted in 1938 was designed to provide workers necessary labor protections such as minimum wage and overtime pay. Currently, the FLSA requires that workers earn at least the federal minimum wage of $7.35/hour, although some states have a higher minimum level. The FLSA also requires that all non-exempt workers be paid overtime compensation at a rate of one and one half times their standard rate of pay for all time worked in excess of 40 hours in any one work week.
The Fair Labor Standards Act protects over 135 million workers in more than 7.3 million workplaces nationwide.

If you have questions about your compensation or if you have received all the pay you are entitled to, it’s a good idea to seek the advice of an experienced Atlanta wage and hour attorney right away.

The Presidential Memorandum sets forth ways in which the Secretary of Labor can change and update regulations regarding who qualifies for overtime protection. For example, the President instructs the Secretary of Labor to consider how the regulations could be revised to:

• Update existing protections in keeping with the intention of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
• Address the changing nature of the American workplace; and • Simplify the overtime rules to make them easier for both workers and businesses to understand and apply.

In that Fact Sheet, the White House states that the minimum salary requirement for the white collar exemptions (now $455 per week) is low and has not been updated since 2004. Based on this comment, observers believe that the Secretary of Labor may raise the minimum salary requirement.

For more information about the FLSA or if you have any wage and hour questions, please contact the experienced Georgia wage and hour attorneys at Buckley Bala Wilson Mew LLP for an immediate case evaluation.