According to CNN, the Obama administration is getting closer to issuing its proposed amendment to the overtime compensation laws. The amendment will provide overtime pay to low-salaried managers who don’t currently qualify for them.
Pursuant to the
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), most “non-exempt” workers are entitled to overtime
pay 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. However, “exempt”
workers are not entitled to overtime compensation, regardless of the number
of hours worked in a week.
The changes are aimed at adjusting the “salary” basis test
that allows companies to avoid paying overtime to any full-time workers
making as little as $455/week – or $23,660 a year, by classifying
them as “exempt” and paying them as salaried employees, rather
than hourly. The salary limit was originally enacted to carve out an exemption
so that high level executives would not receive overtime pay, however
the sum has not kept up with inflation. Thus many lower level managers,
sales employees and administrators who earn low salaries are denied overtime
pay that they, arguably, are entitled to. Policy experts believe that
the Department of Labor will likely raise this threshold to somewhere
between $42,000 and $52,000.
For more information about exemptions, and whether you qualify for overtime compensation, please contact the experienced Atlanta wage and hour lawyers at Buckley Bala Wilson Mew LLP for an immediate and confidential case evaluation.